Ajanta is not a single cave but a group of 30 Buddhist monuments cut into the curved rock wall above the Waghora River in Maharashtra. The horseshoe-shaped gorge gives the site its striking composition: openings appear in a long arc, with the valley below. The Ministry of Culture describes the caves as dating from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE. Their scale is easier to grasp on foot, where each entrance reveals a different arrangement of columns, chambers and carved surfaces.
The caves are generally understood as the result of two major periods of work separated by a long interval. The earlier group began around the second century BCE; a later phase developed in the fifth and sixth centuries CE. The precise dates and sequence of individual caves remain subjects for archaeological study, so a visitor should be cautious about treating every monument as contemporary. The complex is a record of changing Buddhist communities, patronage and artistic choices rather than one construction project completed at once.