Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

SR No.: 006774
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 726
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 51 MB

Page 153

Jaina Temple Architecture : North India
131
in size, is also tri-anga and shares its pitha and wall lineaments with the sanctum, but the jangha carries exquisitely carved two-armed standing figures of Jivantasvämi on the bhadra and Vidyādevi Vairotyā and Pārsva Yakṣa on the two karņas of the south face, and Jina Mahāvīra and Yakşi Cakreśvari and Brahma Yakşa on the corresponding offsets of the north face. The bhadra wall above the pitha is also treated differently. Here it shows rājasenaka decorated with seated figure sculptures, vedikā carrying standing figure sculptures in niches, asanapatta projecting over the niched sculptures, and screen wall of perforated stone grilles fitted between the two square pilasters and accommodating the janghā images of Jivantasvāmi and Mahāvīra. The superstructure of the gūdhamandapa has disappeared.
The gūdhamandapa is entered from the mukhamandapa by a triśākhā doorway of patra (creepers), rūpastambha decorated with elegant figures of Yaksis and Vidyadevis, and patra (lotus leaves). At the base of the doorjambs stand dvärapālas. The door-lintel shows a figure of Jina Mahāvīra in the centre and goat-faced Naigameșa and two goddesses on either side. In front of the door is a moonstone. The inner wall of the gūdhamandapa is quite plain, but the four square central pillars and the architraves running across them are ornate. The ceilings are flat and uncarved.
The antarala is constricted and of no consequence.
The sanctum is entered through a trišakha doorway which is very similar to that of the gūdhamandapa. The inner wall of the sanctum is plain, with a projecting angle at each corner.
The mukhamandapa, which is laid out on a lower floor level, is landed up from the front as well as lateral sides by a flight of three steps and shows two rows of four pillars each and a row of four pilasters, forming thus six bays in all. All the columns are of the octagonal order. They have a moulded base; their shaft is octagonal below and polygonal and circular above; and the capital has a two-coursed round abacus surmounted by
roll-brackets. Though the pillars carry very little ornamentation, the presence of geese in pairs on the base is noteworthy as it also occurs in many 10h century temples of Rajasthan. All the mukhamandapa ceilings are plain, but the two khattakas (niches) flanking the doorway of the gūdhamandapa are elegantly carved.
The rangamandapa is a 15th century addition. The devakulikās were built into two phases. The front and the lateral rows of devakulikās up to the mukhamandapa seem to have been contemporaneous with the main temple, and the back row of devakulikās and those of the remaining lateral sides were probably added in the late 11" century A.D. It thus appears that originally the temple was a Caturviṁsatijinālaya (24 shrine-cells) and later it was converted, as it now stands, into a Bāvanajinalaya (52 shrine-cells).
On stylistic grounds the temple is assigned a date in c. A.D. 1000-25. ABU (DILWARA)
This is a sacred hill of the Jainas lying eighteen miles north-west of Abu Road Railway Station in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan. It forms a part of the Aravalli rising 5650 ft. above the sea level and is the highest point between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris. On the top of the hill is a long plateau adorned with mountain peaks and hamlets. One such hamlet is called Dilwara which, lying one and a half miles from Mt. Abu, has a group of five Jaina temples of white marble called Vimalavasahi, Lunavasahi, Pittalahara Kharataravasahi and Mahāvīra temples. Of these only the first two come under the purview of this Volume.
Vimalavasahi - The temple of Adinatha (Fig. 77), popularly known as Vimalavasahī, consists of a sanctum, gūdhamandapa, mukhamandapa and rangamandapa, the whole standing in an oblong courtyard (128 ft. by 75 ft. inside) surrounded by fifty-two devakulikās with a colonnaded corridor. Outside this and in the same axis as the sanctum and its three compartments are an entrance hall and a portrait gallery called hastiśālā. The temple is laid out in the east-west direction with its
Jain Education Intemational