The Rediscovery of Ajanta
In 1819, a British officer chasing a tiger looked across a ravine and saw carved doorways in the cliff: the lost caves of Ajanta.
What was reported
The Ajanta Caves are about 30 Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora river, between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE. Their walls are covered in some of the finest ancient paintings in the world.
After the monks left, the caves were overgrown by forest and largely forgotten by the outside world, though local people knew of them. On 28 April 1819, a British cavalry officer, John Smith, hunting a tiger, glimpsed a carved archway across the ravine.
Explanations offered
Smith scratched his name and the date onto a painting in Cave 10, where it can still be seen. The caves were studied, copied and protected, and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, visited by millions.
- When
- Carved 2nd century BCE – 5th century CE; seen again in 1819
- Where
- Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India
- Witnesses
- A British officer hunting a tiger
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.