It turned out the Ajanta Caves had “doli” access for Amma: in fact, she sat on a wooden chair with two long wooden poles crudely clamped at arm rest level, with four men carrying the poles on their shoulders, two in front, two behind. I gave her a floppy hat to shade her from the sun, and when the quartet carried her to and from the caves, I remembered Miss Adela Quested and the elderly Mrs Moore at the Marabar Caves from EM Forster’s A Passage to India. 

Also read: Naming the dead

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Amma loved many things at Ajanta, including the glorious murals of Padmapani and Vajrapani, and had many questions. How did they make all those colours from nature—maroon, black, yellow, blue? (from minerals). How did they get enough light to paint inside the cave’s walls and ceilings? And so on. For me, it was also a shocking reminder that the gorgeous, feminine, long haired, bejewelled Padmapani “lotus bearer”—with earrings, necklace, bangles, arm bazuband—slender waisted, full-lipped, in tribhanga pose, sinuously monobrowed beauty—is a man. In fact, Padmapani is a manifestation of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion—it is fascinating how compassion can feminise a man and disarm him, at least in art. In fact, the Chinese version of Avalokitesvara is Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, actually a woman with a lotus. Amma was also very taken up with the magnificent sculpture of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana.  A massive horizontal stone Buddha lies on his side in calm repose, his palm tucked under his cheek, his pillow squished with the weight of his head.
 
The English name for this sculpture is Reclining Buddha, which doesn’t convey half the meaning of him attaining Mahaparinirvana, having passed away and attained eternal bliss. What is remarkable is, Buddha lies in a double frieze: below him, sorrowful followers mourn his death, while above him, celestial musicians celebrate his imminent arrival. Everything is relative, it seems to emphasise. Ditto for all of us.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. 
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com