Ajanta’s ancient murals decoded in a new children’s book

Two years ago, author Ashwin Prabhu stepped into Ajanta’s dark caves with intention. “I have always had a sense of the fact that this was a spectacular site and held a lot of value. I walked in knowing that I was going to write a book,” he says.

The 30 caves are located somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a few hours away from Aurangabad in Maharashtra’s Sahyadri Hills. His aim was to observe, imbibe, photograph, and note down every detail of Buddhist murals inside the caves. These were recorded in history books in 1819 by a British officer named John Smith while he was hunting for tigers.

At Ajanta, a Buddhist monument home to perfectly chiseled viharas, well-constructed stupas, and ornate paintings, dating back almost 2,200 years, one requires a keen eye to take in all the details.

The caves are a repository of some of India’s finest ancient art, and home to monasteries, worship-halls and intricate sculptures. Through gestures, colours, and poses alone, one sees a non-linear story, painted by anonymous artists, come alive in darkness. An innate sense of wonder about these rock-cut caves comes alive in Ashwin’s latest, Magnificent Murals – Buddhist Art of Ajanta (published by Tulika Books with pictures by Srinivasan Krishnan Rajagopalan). Although a children’s book, this text, written concisely without condescension, takes time to run adults and adolescents alike, through what one might find on a visit to this historical site today. More importantly, it makes one want to plan a trip there, to experience the remnants of the caves in all their glory.

Author Ashwin Prabhu
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Did you know that the first four major attempts to record and reproduce the murals at the cave, including that of Buddha’s life story, his enlightenment, and the fabled Jataka tales, all fell victim to various fires? One has no choice but to believe that forces, and perhaps a curse was at play. “It was a chance discovery. When something is set so far back in time, we tend to gloss over why some incidents happened. The chroniclers just said that they had gotten destroyed without getting into the details. Piecing it together meant making connections about the disasters,” he says.

Taming of Nalagiri, a fierce elephant, featured in the book.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A teacher of English and History, Ashwin says that he has always known that there is little space for engagement with his students when there is only one right answer or fact. It is why Magnificent Murals, fashioned in an almost field-guide fashion, takes one through not just facts, but space to deliberate.

In the book are vivid pictures of original paintings in red, brown, white, black, and the occasional resplendent blue, made from lapis lazuli, a precious blue stone imported from Afghanistan and Central Asia, which was once as valuable as gold. Adjacent to the paintings in the book that have suffered intense wear-and-tear and chipping, are line drawings showing us what the paintings may have once looked like. This opens the space for interpretation and deliberation. Ashwin hopes to nudge readers in the direction of the historical line of interpretation through the text in the book.

Writing about the state of the paintings today, and an academic understanding of attempts at preservation, is another way of keeping the book academic and current.

Book jacket of Magnificent Murals
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Ashwin says that early endorsements from people like filmaker-historian Benoy Behl, historian Anirudh Kanisetti and author-naturalist Zai Whitaker, have been encouraging. He is excited to build a bank of books in the same series, he adds. This is his second book, after Ashwin’s first book for children, Sculpted Stones: Mysteries of Mamallapuram (published by Tulika Books).

“I often ask my students what the oldest thing in their house is. Many giggle and say it is their grandparents. But others speak of an old chest, or perhaps a photograph, but most do not cross a 100,” he says, adding “Can you imagine that there is something many thousand years old, which still survives? To me, this is fascinating.”

IMagnificent Murals – Buddhist Art of Ajanta is available on tulikabooks.com for ₹385.

Published – March 19, 2026 11:53 am IST