This is the most up to date book on the art, architecture, and history of the famous Ajanta caves. It includes chapters on political background, religious background, and epigraphy. It includes a summary of the latest research carried out in the last few decades. It brings together critical information from scholarly books and periodicals.

There are 284 colour photographs depicting architecture, paintings, sculpture, and decorative motifs in comprehensive detail. For the first time at least one photograph of all the narrative themes of the Ajanta paintings have been printed in a book.

The identifications of the painted themes by James Burgess, A. Foucher, James Griffiths, Dieter Schlingloff, and Monika Zin have been included to create a collective up-to-date corpus. On historical matters, the timeline of Walter M. Spink for the Ajanta caves has been included.

In order to satisfy the curiosities of the general reader and invoke research interest in advanced learners, an account of how the excavation progressed step-by-step in some of the caves has been included.

An Introduction to the Ajanta Caves, Rajesh Singh, Paperback, 256 pp, $34.99

Dr R. K. Singh is a sort of parivrajaka (wanderer) academic, not affiliated, full time, with any institution since 2008. He has published 3 monographs, 16 research papers, 1 CD-Rom, and 5 video documentaries on the Ajanta caves.

Having earlier served IDC, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, as adviser, 'Revisiting Ajanta' project led by Prof. Sumant Rao, he currently serves the 'Dharohar' foundation, Secure Meters Ltd., Udaipur, as Consulting Art Historian, Ajanta Caves Research programme.

Singh is interested in basic as well as applied research in 'Ajantology.' He is pursuing a lifelong research project called 'Ajanta Sodha Pitaka.' It comprises of many large and small sub-projects grouped under multiple divisions or series. Each series would culminate into two or more of the following items: monographs, essays, databases, archiving, and documentaries.

CONTENTS: Introduction to the Ajanta Caves
	Acknowledgements	vii
	General information	viii
	A note to the reader	viii
I	INTRODUCTION	12
	Introductory	14
	What were the caves called by the makers of Ajanta?	17
	Political background	19
	Buddhism of Ajanta	32
	The Sangha at the samgharama of Ajanta	38
	The original layout of the fifth-century caves	45
II	CAVE 1	48
	Sequence of excavation	50
	Narrative wall paintings	78
III	CAVE 2	92
	Sequence of excavation	94
	Narrative wall paintings	113
	Devotional wall paintings	125
IV	CAVE 9	134
	Art and architectural features	136
	Narrative wall paintings	140
V	CAVE 10	144
	Art and architectural features	146
VI	CAVE 16	150
	Sequence of excavation	152
	Narrative wall paintings	178
VII	CAVE 17	192
	Sequence of excavation	194
	Narrative wall paintings	219
	Spink's research	251
	Further readings	255
	General plan of the caves	256