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BOMBAY, Jan 24 (AFP) - Japan has offered 62.5 million dollars to help restore western India's Ajanta and Ellora caves, renowned for their Buddhist images dating from the third century BC, officials said Friday.

The restoration work is expected to cost 75 million dollars (3.6 billion rupees) of which the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation will pay 62.5 million and Indian groups will pick up the rest, Maharashtra state's tourism development corporation said.

"These funds will also be used to spruce up the entire cave circuit of Maharashtra," it said in a statement.

Ajanta and Ellora, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Bombay, include some 40 caves with intricate paintings and carvings depicting the Buddha and Buddhist themes.

The caves were completed between 200 BC and the mid-600s AD, but were abandoned as Buddhism declined in India.

They were discovered accidentally in the 19th century by a British hunting party and are now designated a World Heritage Site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

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