ASI experts conserve murals similar to Ajanta Caves in Ladakh

Aurangabad, Nov 10:

Three Cheers to our three archaeological chemists from Aurangabad, out of nine experts from all over India, who contributed to the task of conserving the wall paintings at the famous Lamayuru Monastery (in Laddakh). These paintings are similar to the paintings of the world heritage Ajanta Caves.

According to the 3-member team of Archaeological Survey of India (Science Branch - Western Zone, Aurangabad), " The Lamayuru Monastery complex consists of Gonkhang and Avalokiteshwara temple. It is a 7-storey structure and we were on the 5th floor. The feature of the monastery is that it is built-in special soil Mercula Clay (like Multani Mitti) and wooden beams. The monastery is a Tibetian Buddhist site hails from the 11th century. We were on task of conserving mural paintings in the main hall of Gonkhang temple. The mural depicts the figures related to Buddhism and stories of Buddhism. These paintings are similiar to the paintings of our Ajanta Caves."

There are beautiful paintings on all four walls. They were about two to three feet above the floor level. The painting is executed on the mud plaster (thin fine layer of local soil Mercula Clay) and the vibrant colours such as green, grey, red, orange, white, yellow and particular blue in prominent are used in the paintings. The plaster is mixed with fine fibres, which are organic in nature such as wheat husk, jute fibre etc."

They underlined, " Our stay was from September 1 to 25. We observed that there was an accretion of black layers of soot (dhua) due to the burning of traditional lamps, incense sticks and dust dirt as the site is close to the Kargil Highway. Hence we used special chemicals to remove the layers and made the paintings visible through naked eyes. There was a large number of big cracks as well which were defacing some main figures in the paintings. The bulging spots (in paintings) also attracted attention. Hence, we resorted to chemical injection to restore the original panel of paintings," said the team of Aurangabad experts adding that they performed their duty in low temperature (8 to 10 degree centigrade during the daytime) by wearing warm woollen attires."

" The variation in temperature, huge visitors inside the small shrine, seepage of waters, insect activity especially the silverfish within the mud mortar and human vandalism (touching or brushing by hands to the painted surface) were the reasons for the deterioration and degradation of the wall paintings. The murals got detached from the walls and the temple authority to consolidate the loose plaster used Japanese tissue paper as a temporary measure. There was a loss of pigments at some portion of paintings," said the team of experts.

The deputy superintending archaeological chemist (Science Branch, Western Zone) Shrikant Mishra said, " The task was a queit challenging. I had also been on the task to Leh in 2014-15. This year, for the first time, our three science experts got an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of paintings at Lamayuru Monastery."

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No ASI office in Ladakh

There is no ASI office in Ladakh. The Central Government every year picks up an expert from any circle on a rotation basis and deployed the team on the task of conservation works in Ladakh (Leh and Kargil are two districts).

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Three experts from Aurangabad

The team of nine science experts led by the deputy superintending archaeological chemist (DySAC) Manivaranm (Indore) comprised of Aurangabad's assistant superintending archaeological chemist (ASAC) Deepak Gupta, ASAC Anupama Mahajan and senior modeller Sudhir Wagh; senior modeller Anju Panwar (Dehradun), assistant archaeological chemist (AAC) Fariyad Ali (Dehradun), AAC Nitu Rathod (Jaipur), AAC Pragnaya Jena (Bhubaneshwar) and senior photographer Nageshwar Rao (Hyderabad).