Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 02

SR No.: 011013
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 326
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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CHAPTER 28]
WEST INDIA
town of Palitana, occupying the twin summits of the mountain, 600 m. above the sea-level. Crowning these two ridges, each some 320 m. long, the line of buildings, eight hundred and sixty-three in number, forms almost the shape of the letter S. Out of the large number of shrines of various shapes and sizes, a typical example is the caumukha temple of Ādinātha standing on the apex of the northern ridge, which we have already discussed. Dominating the opposite and the southern ridge of the Satrunjaya and situated within the Vimalavasi-Tuk is the temple of müla-näyaka Sri-Adīśvara, the first of the twenty-four Tīrthankaras, to whom the sacred site is chiefly dedicated. According to an inscription at the entrance, the present edifice represents the seventh restoration of the temple carried out in 1530 by Karma-Simha, a minister of Ratna-Simha of Chitor. Evidently, the present structure occupies the place of a much older temple of about A.D. 960, which might have replaced still older ones. The temple, as it stands, is an imposing double-storeyed building with a lofty spire and a base surrounded by many small shrines. Comprising one cella only, it is simpler on plan
comparison to that of the caumukha temple on the northern ridge, its architectural elevation, which is notably ornate, showing distinctly good features. This specially applies to the eastern frontage with its pillared portico and upper storey, the semicircular arches being additionally supported by the characteristic convoluted struts. As a whole,' says Percy Brown, 'this building is however not unified, it is a combination of parts each good in itself, but the process of assembling has not been perfectly accomplished.' However, the individual temples and their architectural distinction are not the strong points of the great temple-city of Satrunjaya: the overall effect of the innumerable shrines, the silence that prevails in the surroundings and, in particular, the fact that the site is never visited by man after dusk are some of the aspects that make a visitor, wonder about this celebrated temple-city of the Jainas.
Situated barely 160 km. to the west of Satrunjaya, the temple-city of Girnar tops a great cliff some 900 m. above the sea-level. Although not so numerous a collection of shrines as found on Satrunjaya, Girnar possesses a number of temples of earlier dates. The temple of Neminátha, the largest in the Girnar group, bears an inscription recording its restoration in the thirteenth century. A few temples belonging to our period are also found, and among them the more important ones are the temples of SamaraSimha and Samprati-Rajā and Mekala-vasahi, all belonging to the fifteenth century and referred to above.
Percy Brown, Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu), Bombay, 1965, p. 135.
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