The ancient caves of Ajanta in western India, rediscovered by British soldiers in 1819, are the only known examples of Buddhist carvings and paintings from an epoch of extraordinary vitality. The earliest of the 31 designed caves along the Waghora River date from the second century B.C., when the first Buddhists forbade representation of the Buddha himself, leaving artists free to employ a lexicon of symbolic figures. Six centuries later, the most splendidly realized of the caves were created to express the visions of the Mahayana order. Here the Buddha is lovingly portrayed seated, and the story of his life is depicted in sensuous detail. As adept a commentator as he is a photographer, Behl provides fascinating explanations of the techniques used to carve the animated reliefs and paint the richly detailed murals. He writes, "It is the life of the spirit rather than that of worldly existence which pervades these paintings," and, indeed, their contemplative beauty inspires a joy not unlike a foretaste of the purported ecstasy of enlightenment. Donna Seaman