Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves, a series of 29 Buddhist caves temples in Maharashtra, India are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century, containing paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art and universal pictorial art. The caves were used by Buddhist monks as prayer halls (chaitya-grihas ) and monasteries (viharas) for about nine centuries. They were abruptly abandoned, fell into oblivion and were rediscovered in 1819.