MIREIA PRETUS LABAYEN
Benoy K. Behl has been a privileged witness to the beauty, kindness, and compassion that art can bring to the world. An art historian, documentary filmmaker, and photographer, Behl (New Delhi) is the only person to have documented Buddhist heritage in 19 regions across 17 countries. For this reason, his name is now included in the Limca Book of Records as the most traveled photographer and art historian (Limca is an annual reference book published in India that documents India’s achievements in multiple fields).
The turning point in his career came when he photographed the ancient paintings in the Ajanta caves, the oldest surviving paintings from the historical period on the Indian subcontinent. In the horseshoe-shaped gorge of the Waghora River in Maharashtra, western India, thirty-one caves were excavated in two phases. The first dates back to the 2nd century BCE, and the second, between the 4th and 6th centuries CE. C. The mural paintings and sculptures at Ajanta depict the Jataka tales, stories about the Buddha in his previous lives, and the caves were used for centuries as a retreat place for Buddhist monks during the monsoon months.
Behl photographed the Ajanta paintings in their authentic colors and details in 1991 (and a year later, he returned to redo the work and perfected it). After publishing these photographs in National Geographic magazine, museums and universities around the world invited him to lecture and exhibit the paintings. The Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India wrote to him: “You have conquered the darkness of the Ajanta Caves.”
Benoy K. Behl is one of the foremost ambassadors of ancient Indian art through his books, photographic exhibitions, and documentaries. Some of his documentaries, such as “The Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism” and “Indian Deities Worshipped in Japan,” have won awards at various international film festivals.
Buddhistdoor en Español: You have mentioned in many articles the impact your photographic work of the Ajanta murals had on you. After visiting so many places around the world that boast some of the finest Buddhist art, what did you find so extraordinary about the Ajanta murals?
Benoy K. Behl: “I have been incredibly fortunate to see and document some of the most beautiful Buddhist art, in places like the Borobudur Stupa in Indonesia; Sukhothai in Thailand; the 12th-century paintings of Bagan in Myanmar; the Dungkar Caves in the Tibet Autonomous Region; the cultural history museums of Bangladesh; and the Sigiriya Caves in Sri Lanka. What is extraordinary about all this art is its sublime vision of life, which gives a profound inner perspective to the painted and sculpted figures. It is exquisite art that transports you away from the noise and clamor of the material world to the peace that can be found within.”
After having seen this wonderful collection of Buddhist artworks around the world, one returns to its most sublime source. The paintings of Ajanta are the most complete and exquisite embodiment of the spirit of compassion in Buddhism. There is a delicacy in this art that moves you and completely transforms you; you simply have to give it a chance and spend time in its presence. Scholars and pilgrims have always spoken of ‘the world of Ajanta,’ and this is what I experienced there. The thousands of kind and gentle figures painted on the walls of the Ajanta caves transport you to a world of compassion and kindness. These paintings convey a holistic view of life that changes you forever. The compassionate message of Ajanta is captured in an inscription at the site, which reads: “The joy of giving filled him so completely that there was no room left for the feeling of pain.”
BDE: Let’s step back in time. If you could recreate on film the atmosphere, the sounds, and the people who worked at and visited the caves during the two phases of construction of the Ajanta Caves, what would we see?
BKB: “The main thing we would see is a multitude of dedicated people, fulfilling their role in life, sculpting and painting. They were guilds of artists who considered it their dharma, or sacred duty, to create art that would convey the knowledge and understanding of life they had received from their ancestors.”
BDE: Are the Ajanta paintings in danger?
BKB: “In the 1920s and 30s, before India’s independence, a team of Italian conservators was invited to preserve the Ajanta murals. This was a disaster for the conservation of the paintings, as the conservators applied shellac (a type of lacquer) over them, believing it to be the best way to preserve them. Over time, the shellac yellowed and darkened considerably with the amount of dust that accumulated from the atmosphere. For decades, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been carefully removing the shellac to reveal the colors and details of the paintings. Some of this delicate process has been successful, but much more remains to be done.
In addition to intrusive human activities, such as the application of shellac, there are other natural factors that threaten the paintings for the future.” There are some moisture leaks coming from the distant summit above the cave. The SAI is doing everything possible to protect the paintings.
Another damaging factor is the buildup of moisture and bacteria inside the caves, caused by the large number of visitors in recent years. An Interpretation Center has been built near the caves, in the hope that many visitors will go there and not spend so much time inside the caves.
BDE: India boasts one of the world’s most beautiful painting traditions, yet many of its ancient artists seem to be unknown today. Could you mention some of the highlights of the Chitrasutra from the Vishnudharmottara Purana, the world’s oldest known treatise on art?
BKB: “The legacy of painting tradition inherited by the artists of Ajanta was documented in the Chitrasutra, dating from the 5th century CE. This treatise offers hundreds of details on how to paint. For example, Indian painters focused intensely on portraying their subjects’ feelings through their gaze, as the eyes are the windows to the soul. Thus, we find five types of gazes described in the Chitrasutra: chapakara, or meditative; matsyodara, or loving; utpalaptrabha, placid or peaceful; padmapatranibha, frightened or sobbing; and sankhakriti, angry or deeply pained.”
The Ajanta paintings were created by the heirs of a very long tradition. They were guilds of painters who painted palaces, temples, and caves. The art of painting was their legacy, and their duty in life was to paint. As you can imagine, they had no need to write their names on the paintings. It was a great sense of importance and fulfillment to play your part in the world.
These painters had a great compassion and vision of humanity that moves and captivates us to this day.
BDE: At what point did the representation of the Buddha in human form begin in the Ajanta caves, and in Indian art in general?
BKB: “Since the ego and the belief in our own identity are considered an illusion caused by the limitations of our senses, the focus was never on the individual. For about a thousand years, in antiquity, up until the 7th century CE, an immense amount of art was produced in India. This art depicted deities, mythological beings, animals, plants, trees, forms that combined these beings with great harmony, and there were also representations of ordinary men and women. However, this art never depicted prominent figures, not even the kings under whose rule these works were created. Nor was the artist’s name mentioned. According to the Chitrasutra, personalities are too unimportant to be represented in art. Art has a noble aim: to show the eternal, beyond the ephemeral forms of the world.”
The purpose of the artworks was to convey the Truth, as experienced by the artist. No thinker or artist claimed to have seen the Truth alone. In fact, great Indian masters of antiquity, including Gautama Buddha and Mahavira, declared that they were merely following in the footsteps of those who came before them. The emphasis was on the loss of the ego, not its perpetuation. Art was a fundamental vehicle for communicating these ideas.
One of the greatest contributions of this philosophical current lies in the absence of barriers between the spiritual world and the world of the senses. The art of this tradition fully embraces life experiences in all their aspects. It views our perceptions, from the sensory to the highest spiritual planes, as a continuous path. It empowers our faculties and perception to help us understand and attain the divine through all our resources, including our emotions. This philosophy does not attempt to deny our response to the splendor of the world around us. In fact, it sees beauty as a reflection of the divine. For this reason, the human form is not presented in a way that might awaken primal desires that become a burden. Instead, Indian art recognizes grace in all humans and in other forms as well, and seeks to elevate us through our reaction to the aesthetic.
Human-form Buddhas began to appear in Indian art, along with other deities, from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE. C. Therefore, during the second period of Ajanta, we can see these images frequently.
BDE: You developed a low-light photographic technique to photograph the murals at Ajanta. What was the experience like?
BKB: “Working at Ajanta was a technical challenge. This low-light photography captured details and colors that had not been previously known to the world.
But what happened in the process of spending so many hours with these beautiful paintings was something different, something that was, in fact, more important than the technical achievement. I received constant, close exposure to ancient Indian art. It was the most transformative experience of my life. Through these glimpses, a clear understanding emerged that compassion is all there is. Understanding is different from something you read in a book. Understanding is something you know, something that has become part of your consciousness.”
The documentary “The Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism” by Benoy K. Behl:
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Mireia Pretus Labayen
She studied at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, earning a degree in journalism. She later completed a course at the Escola Superior d’Imatge i Disseny (IDEP) on screenwriting and film production. In 2001, she developed an interest in Buddhism, and since then, she has studied and practiced with various Buddhist teachers, especially those of the Tibetan tradition. During these years, she has worked extensively as a translator, particularly providing simultaneous translation from English to Spanish for Buddhist teachers, and has collaborated with the Casa del Tibet Foundation in Barcelona, the University of Mysticism in Ávila, and The Meridian Trust. She has been a member of the Catalan Coordinator of Buddhist Organizations. Currently, she works for the British NGO The Friendly Hand, coordinating educational and health projects in the UK, Spain, India, Peru, and Sri Lanka.
