Cave 16, a vihara, contains some of Ajanta’s finest paintings and is thought to have been the original entrance to the entire complex. The best known of these paintings is the ‘dying princess’ – Sundari, wife of the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda, who is said to have fainted at the news that her husband was renouncing the material life (and her) in order to become a monk. Carved figures appear to support the ceiling, and there’s a statue of the Buddha seated on a lion throne teaching the Noble Eightfold Path.
