Ajanta Caves 12 to 15

Ajanta Caves 12 to 15 highlight the transition from the early Hinayana period to the later Mahayana phase, featuring viharas, rock-cut cells, intricate carvings, and unfinished yet remarkable architectural elements.

Ajanta Caves 12–15 show the transition from early Hinayana Buddhism to later Mahayana Buddhism. 

Cave 12 features rock-cut cells for nuns. The inside of Cave 13's unfinished vihara is very plain. The builders planned Cave 14 as a big vihara, but they did not complete it. Cave 15 has a well-carved temple with a Buddha shrine that shows how art has changed over time.

Cave 12

Builders dug up Cave 12 as a Hinayana vihara in the 2nd century BC. It is likely one of the first digs at Ajanta. The front of the building has fallen, revealing a simple square hall inside. They created 12 rooms, each containing two stone beds. The carefully cut places to sleep in the rooms.

A trader named Ghanamadada gifted the cave to the abbey, as mentioned in an inscription on the back wall of the monastery. It was formed between the 2nd and 1st century BC, slightly later than Cave 10. There are chaitya window patterns on the walls of the hall above the cell doors.

Cave 13

Cave 13 is an unfinished vihara from the Hinayana period of Buddhism and one of the places to visit in Ajanta Caves. This monastery is not very big. It has an atrium hall with seven cells on each side. There are rock-cut beds inside the rooms.

Cave 14

Workers dug out Cave 14 above Cave 13 at a higher level, and it is included in Ajanta Caves tour packages. It is an unfinished abbey. At first, the plan was for a big event. The partly dug-out hall lies beyond the columned porch. Artists beautifully drew the salabhanjikas on the top ends of the opening.

Cave 15

Cave 15 is also a vihara. It has an astylar hall with eight cells, an antechamber, a sanctum sanctorum, and a porch with columns. The sculptures show Buddha in different poses, including sitting Buddha on Simhasana inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Faint traces of paint indicate that artists painted it at one point. Sculptors shaped the doorway's frame into two levels of a sikhara. They placed a stupa in the middle of the lower level, surrounding it with an arch of serpent-hoods. In the middle of the top level, they carved a chaitya window design flanked by two highly realistic pigeons.

Ajanta's cave 15A is the smallest one that has been dug out. This cave has a small astylar hall in the middle and one cell on each of the three walls. On the front wall, there was writing in shell symbols. A chaitya window design rising from a Vedic pattern makes the hall look better.