The first Bud­dhist cave mon­u­ments at Ajan­ta date from the 2nd and 1st cen­turies B.C. Dur­ing the Gup­ta peri­od (5th and 6th cen­turies A.D.), many more rich­ly dec­o­rat­ed caves were added to the orig­i­nal group. The paint­ings and sculp­tures of Ajan­ta, con­sid­ered mas­ter­pieces of Bud­dhist reli­gious art, have had a con­sid­er­able artis­tic influ­ence.