Jaina Tirthas in India and Their Architecture

SR No.: 006717
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
Total Pages: 202
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 24 MB

Page 13

10
JAINA TIRTHAS IN INDIA
than the average human height. We thus see that this style began in about the 6th cen. B. C. These are not simply bhava-murtis and are of persons whose features they try to copy faithfully. A practice prevailed in ancient India whereby statues of kings were fashioned and were kept in shrines for worship. Is it possible that this practice was influenced by the tombs of Egyptian kings who are sleeping an eternal sleep in the Pyramids ?
This inspiration must have given rise to the practice of building monasteries and shrines in places where the Buddha or the Jina resided or preached. Such personages with subdued passions would never require that their images or pictures should be worshipped. But their disciples must have thought it wise to get their-of the Buddha or Jina-statues fashioned and to enshrine them in order to enable the devotees to concentrate their minds on the objects of their worship. This has resulted in the emotional features that we find in the images in place of the anatomic ones.
Another interesting point is that the history of the development of Jaina and Buddhist temples is not bound up with the development of images of the two religions. It would be very interesting to find out how the modern temple architecture can be coordinated with the architecture of the Buddhist stupas, monasteries or other monuments.
Only stupas and caves of the time of Asoka, the great patron of Buddhism exist at present. The erection of a stupa is simply a development of a round mound that was made on a dead body or its ashes in Vedic times. In its early forms, it was given the shape of an inserted bowl and a tree was planted in the centre of its top and a fence was made for its protection. The Jaina scriptures refer to the stupas erected in memory of the Arhats and these were built even before the advent of Buddhism. There was no difference in the stupas of both the religions.
In the days of Emperor Asoka some change was effected in the shape of a stupa. It Consisted of a nicely carved railing in place of the fence and an umbrella instead of the tree. Arched gateways were built in the four directions in the railing. These changes enhanced the grandeur of the stupa without changing its shape.