Water seepage at Ellora’s Cave 32 has sparked concern over the preservation of its rare ninth-century frescoes. Officials from the Archaeological Survey of India have acknowledged the issue and called for urgent conservation measures.
The Ellora caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located approximately 30 kilometres from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, house rock-cut monuments representing Buddhist, Hindu and Jain traditions. Cave 32 belongs to the Jain group and is among the few at Ellora that contain ancient paintings.
“The seepage has developed naturally,” a local ASI official said. “We have written to the conservation section earlier to address this issue. A review will be conducted.”
The official further noted that a previous inspection failed to locate the exact source of the seepage, citing the extensive spread of the area.
A tourist guide who visited the site recently said minor repairs had been carried out last year when the issue first surfaced. “But more work is needed to stop the seepage as it can damage the paintings,” he added.
Heritage experts are equally alarmed. Swapnil Joshi, co-convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), underscored the urgency. “Ellora is different from Ajanta caves. In Ellora, there are very few caves with such paintings... We have written to the ASI earlier. If water is still coming down, it has to be dealt with at the earliest.”
While ASI has not issued a formal statement regarding the timeline for repair, conservationists and local guides insist that any delay could further threaten the fragile artwork.
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