Museum's Ajanta cave paintings need upkeep

Ajanta caves and the paintings therein are considered a landmark in the history of art in India. They represent a distinct dimension of Buddhism. Paintings in the first set of caves are about 2,200 years old and the second set came into being some 1,500 years ago. The caves because of their unique place in the history of religion and art were declared a World Heritage Site in 1983.There are altogether 30 caves on a range of hillocks close to Waghora river. They are divided into sanctuaries and a monastic complex.

According to Unesco, the wall paintings, profuse and sensitive, constitute the most striking artistic achievement of Ajanta. The caves are generally decorated with painted or sculpted figures of supple form and classic balance. The refined lightness of the decoration, equilibrium of the compositions, marvelous beauty of the feminine figures place the paintings in the rank of masterpieces of universal pictorial art.

The striking beauty of the caves, the paintings there and their collective importance did not escape the eyes of Ghulam Yazdani, the first director of the department of archaeology. He persuaded the Nizam to allow him to document the cave paintings. Yazdani assigned artist Syed Ahmed and his team to make the canvas copies of the paintings as many of them were being damaged by the vagaries of time.

Some 3,000 paintings were drawn. The next move for Yazdani was to get them published. They were published in four volumes from Britain somewhere in the 1930s.

Now, the sad part the story: half of the 3,000 paintings drawn by Syed Ahmed, Mohammed Jalaluddin and a few others have been on display at the state museum at Public Gardens for over four decades. But a close look reveals that they lack in upkeep. The other half are lying, mostly rolled up and uncared in the stores of the museum for decades.

The museum officials say that in spite of their repeated requests, the government has not given any money for the restoration and conservation of the paintings. Instead, some time ago, they were forced to part with several paintings which have been taken away to Buddha Vanam Museum that is coming up in Nagarjunakonda. They have been told to prepare the remaining paintings for shifting to Kalchakra Museum in Amravathi soon.

The unilateral government decision has given rise to speculation that it is planning to close down Ajanta Art Gallery in the museum by taking away the entire collection. The State Museum or to be precise Hyderabad will be made poorer of its artefacts under government supervision.

The questions which are being asked are: Why the government is not taking necessary interest in saving the collective heritage of Hyderabad? If the government wishes to save the Ajanta Art collection in the museum by taking it to some other place, why it is not doing so by keeping it in the State Museum? If the government, as it claims, wishes to take away only the paintings which have been lying unattended in stores, and not those which are on display, is it not splitting the collection?