View from the left of the great horseshoe window over the entrance of Buddhist chaitya hall, Cave IX, Ajanta

Stereoscopic photograph of the façade of the Buddhist Cave 9 at Ajanta taken by Robert Gill in 1868. The Buddhist cave temples of Ajanta were excavated into a horse-shoe shaped cliff overlooking the Waghora River in the 2nd – 1st century BC. and later in the 5th century AD. The caves consists of monasteries (viharas) and prayer-halls (chaityas) used by a community of Buddhist monks who resided there. Cave 9 is a chaitya hall from the 1st century BC. The façade has a large horseshoe-shaped window beneath which is a doorway and two windows surmounted by arches in relief. The Buddha figures are a later addition. The interior is divided in three aisles by plain octagonal columns and a hemispherical stupa is situated at the end of the apse. The cave has preserved some traces of painting.