AJANTA (more properly AjUntha.), a village in the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad in India, celebrated for its cave hermi tages and halls, in a wooded and rugged ravine about 31m. from the village. The ravine is that of the river Wagura which falls from the east over a bluff forming several waterfalls. The caves, about 3o in number, are excavated in the south side of the precipi tous bank of the ravine, and are of two kinds—dwelling-halls and meeting-halls. The former have a broad verandah, its roof sup ported by pillars, and giving towards the interior on to a hall averaging in size about 35ft. by 2oft. Dormitories are excavated opening on to this hall, and an image of the Buddha usually stands in a niche facing the entrance. In the larger caves pillars support the roof on all three sides, forming a sort of cloister run ning round the hall. The meeting-halls which back into the rock about twice as far as the dwelling-halls, were used as chapter houses for the meetings of the Buddhist Order. The oldest caves date from 200 B.C. tO A.D. 200, the next belong approximately to the 6th, and the youngest to the 7th century A.D. Most of the interior walls of the caves are covered with fresco paintings, of considerable merit, and somewhat in the early Italian style. When first discovered, in 1817, these frescoes were in a fair state of preservation, but they fell later into decay. The remains are now properly preserved, and form, with copies of those destroyed, important evidence as to pre-Hindu art in India. Ajanta was a kind of college monastery.