Ajanta Cave 12 is one of the earliest caves, if not the earliest, at Ajanta cave. The frontal wall has absolutely disappeared. The astylar hall, nearly 11 m square and with a flat ceiling, opens into twelve cells ranged on three sides. The walls of the hall above the cell-doors are ornamented with chaitya-window motifs connected at places by a railing-motif, the right wall being further decorated with stepped merlons of Assyrian pattern.

Each cell has two beds. The holes in the sills and lintels for pivot-hinges prove that they were originally provided with single-leafed wooden doors. On the back wall, to the left of the right corner cell, is a Brahman inscription recording the gift of the merchant Ghanamadada, and belonging to a date slightly later than that of the record of Vasithiputa Katahadi in Ajanta Cave 10. The monastery once bore paintings, of which hardly anything now exists.

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