The magnificent cave temples of Ajanta are situated in a horse-shoe valley of the Waghora river in West India and consist of prayer halls (chaityas) and monasteries (viharas), built for the Buddhist community who lived there. The first group was excavated between the second - first centuries BC; then, after a period of more than six centuries, the excavations restarted around the fifth century AD, in the Vakataka period.
Cave 4 dates from the late fifth century and is the largest monastery at Ajanta. It consists of a verandah with eight octagonal columns with a cell at either end. Three doorways lead into a columned hall with a shrine with a teaching Buddha. To the right of the doorway there is a panel depicting Avalokiteshvara and on the left the miracle at Sravasti. On the sides of the hall there are incomplete cells. The shrine has a figure of teaching Buddha with Bodhisattva attendants.