The paintings at the Ajanta caves mainly illustrate:

The Ajanta caves are a group of about 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves near Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district) in Maharashtra, carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora river. They were made in two main phases:

An early phase in about the 2nd-1st century BCE, under the Satavahanas.

A later phase in about the 5th century CE (about 460-480 CE), under the Vakataka king Harishena.

The paintings on the walls and ceilings of the caves are considered among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art. Their main themes are:

The Jataka tales, which are stories of the previous births of the Buddha, when he was a Bodhisattva in human or animal form. Well-known painted Jatakas include the Chhaddanta Jataka (the six-tusked elephant), the Mahajanaka Jataka and the Vessantara Jataka.

Scenes from the life of the Buddha.

Images of Bodhisattvas, the most famous being the Padmapani (Bodhisattva holding a lotus) and the Vajrapani in Cave 1.

The "Dying Princess" in Cave 16.

The paintings were made using the tempera technique (fresco secco), on a plaster of clay, cow dung and rice husk covered with lime, with natural colours. They show court life, nature, animals and ordinary people with great skill.

The caves were forgotten for centuries and rediscovered in 1819 by a British army officer, John Smith, while hunting a tiger. They became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, along with the nearby Ellora caves.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Panchatantra is a collection of animal fables by Vishnu Sharma.
• ✗The Mahabharata is a Hindu epic; scenes from it appear in Hindu temples, not at Ajanta.
• ✗The lives of the Jain Tirthankaras appear in Jain manuscripts and some Ellora caves.