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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXVI, No. 1 July 2001 remarkable. The Jains were the pioneers in the field of Temple architecture. The Jaina conception of divinity and prayer paved the way for temples for Arhats. The earlier forms of place of workship are cave temples, bas-reliefs and monolithic granite idols. Later massive temples with distinct gopurams and mandapas were constructed. The earliest extant temples of grandeur are the Jain temples. Temple worship paved the way for iconography, wall-paintings and sculpturing. The cave paintings at Sithannavasal in Pudukottai district and at Tirumalai in North Arcot district show the Jains interest in paintings. The Jains standardised the temple architecture. This has inspired and influenced the Tamils of other religious faiths also to construct massive temples.
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In the Jaina temple architecture, a sthamba, called Manasthambha, is a unique feature. This is installed in the front of the muhamandapa and generally taller than the Vimāna above the Garbhagriha.
Patronage of fine arts by the Jains influenced and encouraged Tamils to develop these arts. There are many Jaina Tamil works that speak about them.
The Jains, the followers of Lord Mahavira and his teaching's, by their presence in Tamil country, influenced Tamils to a larger extent in diverse fields like culture, language, literature and social ethics.
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