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Jaina Temple Architecture : North India
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door-opening on the front. On stylistic grounds the temple may be placed in the 10th century A.D.
From Deuliya has also been procured a miniature shrine which is now housed in the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art. It is a square block of stone with four Jina images on its four faces and a tiered śikhara crowned by a heavy amalaka. PARESANATH
At Paresanath in Bankura district is a temple of Pārsvanātha built of sandstone. Of the temple, only the plinth has survived. The enshrined image of Pārsvanātha, which was found intact on its plinth, is mutilated. The temple is assignable to the 10th 11th century A.D. AMBIKANAGAR
Ambikanagar, a village in the Bankura district, is situated on the confluence of the Kamisävati and the Kumari. The village seems to have been named after Ambikā (Jaina goddess) whose image is still being worshipped in the village temple as a Brahmanical goddess. In the village is a stone Jaina temple (Figs. 51- 52) of which the sanctum alone has survived. The sanctum is triratha on plan and has a tryanga-bāda (three-divisioned wall) consisting of pābhāga, janghā and varanda. The pābhāga, standing on a narrow flat course of kharaśilā, consists of khurā, kumbha, kānti and pațā, the last one adorned with heart-shaped foliages. The jangha is quite plain, but the basal and apical parts of its offsets are made up of khurā and patā, the latter being adorned with usual foliages. Besides, the jangha has a projecting sunken niche on each of its central offsets for harbouring images that do not exist now. The varanda, which separates the wall from the sikhara, consists of two khurās with a recess between. Of the śikhara, only five courses are intact. The sanctum is entered from the east through a corbelled doorway, Inside the sanctum at present is a Sivalinga which was installed during the later occupation of the temple by the Saivas. This is evident from an image of Rşabhanātha which was originally installed therein, but it now lies by the side of the Linga.
A water-chute to drain out oblation water of the enshrined image has been inserted in the third moulding of the plinth on the north side.
The above image of Rşabhanatha is robeless and stands in the kāyotsarga posture on a double-petalled lotus placed on a pedestal which carries his bull cognizance in the centre and a devotee and a crouching lion on either side. He wears a jatajuta locks of hair above the head) with curls falling down on the sides of the head and over the shoulders. He is accompanied on each side by an attendant and has a multi-tiered umbrella over his head, flanked by a hovering couple of Vidyadharas bearing garlands. Over the umbrella are two pairs of hands playing on cymbals. On the two edges of the slab are small figures of 24 kāyotsarga Jinas arranged one above the other in two rows of six pairs each. The rectangular slab is slightly rounded on the top. Behind the head of the principal image is a small plain halo with a branch of tree projecting from its either side. The back of the throne consists of two beaded posts supporting a cross-bar adorned with circular plaques. The image is of fine workmanship and its drooping eyelids and serene countenance show a perfect expression of spirituality.
The temple was probably built in the 11th century A.D. DEOLI
At Deoli, a village in the Purulia district, stands a ruined Jaina temple (Fig. 54) of the pañcāyatana variety. The temple was already in the ruinous condition when Beglar reported it in 1872-73 (Archaelogical Survey of India Report, edited by A. Cunningham, Vol. VIII, pp. 189-90) and the condition has further deteriorated since that time. The temple is built of coarse-grained sandstone and faces north. It was once a fine and large temple and had four subsidiary shrines at the four corners and a principal one in the centre, but at present only two subshrines located in the south-west and north-east corners and the central shrine stand there in dilapidated condition. The central shrine, according to Beglar, consisted of a
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