Technique of the painting process in the Bagh caves in Gwalior state

Abstract

The Bagh caves (lat.22°22'N., long.74°48'E.) are situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhya Hills, seventy miles from Mhow, a town on the Rajputana-Malwa section of the B.B. and C.I. Railway. The caves were at one time fully decorated with paintings. But there are remains of them only in caves III and IV. The caves, which are of sandstone, have crumbled, due to the excessive weight of the superimposing band of claystone with moisture percolating through it. Consequently many of the paintings have disappeared. The paintings probably belong to the early seventh century A.D., being contemporaneous with the paintings in Caves XVI and XVII at Ajanta.