CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY 
Cave 1 is probably the grandest vihara (monastery) at the site and was sponsored by emperor Harsisena himself. Harisena started this cave in about 466 CE when all the best spaces along the scarp were already gone. This explains this cave’s low priority location, at the extreme eastern end of the site, where the nature of the scarp offered many problems. The facade and porch were completed by 475-76 CE and the hall and shrine by 476-77 CE. Harisena died suddenly in 477 CE and so his own cave was neither finished nor dedicated, nor even used for worship. Perhaps this is why the cave’s painted decoration doesn’t show a trace of soot from oil lamps or incense. The cave consists of a verandah, a hall, group of cells and a sanctuary. The facade is elaborately carved with relief sculptures and decorative carving.
Every inch of the cave was originally painted including the pillars and the sculptures but much of the painting has peeled off. Its iconographic program is focused upon themes connected with kingship. For instance, carvings of the hunt, battles and erotic dalliance adorn the rich facade and the carvings emphasize royal virtue. The cave contains some of the masterpieces of painting. The two most famous are the paintings of protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the shrine. Besides this, it depicts Sibi, Samkhapala, Mahajanaka, Maha-ummagga, Champeyya Jatakas and the scene depicting Temptation of Mara.
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Cave 2 was started just before Cave 1 in the mid-460s CE and Emperor Harisena of Vakataka dynasty was the patron of the cave. Work on it broke off when Asmakas started threatening the region in 468 CE. Although, Cave 2 was started as a simple monastic dormitory, without any thought of a shrine, by 466 CE making the excavation a residence for the Buddha along with the monks had become customary. This new requirement of adding a shrine to what was originally intended as a mere dormitory continued in Cave 2 for the next year or two, until work on the cave was suddenly cut off by the local conflict in around 472 CE.
Although Cave 2 was roughed out early, all of the more elaborate work on it was done after 475 CE and is representative of Ajanta’s lavish late mode. There is an emphasis of the iconographic program upon virtuous or powerful women that might suggest a queenly patronage. The facades of the chapels at each end of the veranda are carved with figures of the Naga kings and their attendants, the portly Ganas. Twelve elaborately carved pillars support the roof. There are ten cells off four corridors at the front and rear. While the seated Buddha in dharmacakrapravartana mudra (wheel turning gesture) is enshrined in the sanctum, the side sub-shrines contain two Yaksha figures (popularly known as Sankhanidhi and Padmanidhi) to the left and Hariti and her consort Pancika to the right. The sidewalls are painted with countless Buddha’s in various attitudes.
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