Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 108

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Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies
the ambulatory are flat and uncarved. The pañcaratha śikhara of the sanctum, as it looks from outside, rises above the terrace from a moulded base consisting of a pattikā decorated with garland loops and buds, a string of ornate rafter ends between two kapotas, and a recessed course with a string of smaller rafter ends. The central and flanking offsets of the sikhara are enmeshed with caitya-gavāksa pattern, while the corner offsets are marked by nine bhūmi-āmalakas, each consisting of two-tiered kapota with addorsed caitya-gavākşa, spirelet and kapota. The crowning members of the sikhara above the amalaka are modern restoration. The sikhara shows elegant proportion and pleasing curvature
The sukanāsa, which rises to the fifth bhūmi of the sikhara, is very massive and elaborate. It consists of two storeys and a gable of three diminishing stages, crowned by a circular gaväksa containing a figure of seated Jina. The two storeys are each marked on the sides by a stage of bhūmi-āmalaka. In the central part of the lower storey is an open window flanked on each side by a pair of standing Jinas. The window is surmounted on the upper storey by a tall udgama- pediment, while the Jinas are canopied by niched pediments containing diamonds.
The garbhagrha doorway (Pls. 19-20) is very ornate. It consists of seven jambs decorated with diamonds, flowers (bakula), apsarases, mithunas, apsarases, rampant vyālas and creepers respectively. On the lower part of the jambs stand some beautiful female figures, now sadly damaged. The lintel continues the decoration of two inner jambs, but above that it has four friezes of which the lowermost displays Vidyādharas, the second Navagrahas, the third alternate standing and seated Jinas (the prominent among these being Adinātha and Ajitanatha, who appear on the upper and lower lalātas), and the uppermost the sixteen objects seen in dream by the Jina mother at the time of conception. At the terminal ends of the lintel are four seated goddesses one of which is identified with Cakreśvari and another with Sarasvati. The doorsill has
a mandāraka flanked on each side by a group of dancers and musicians, lion attacking an elephant and a seated goddess. As apparent from an inscription, the doorway has been added in A.D. 994, replacing of course the original old one.
T he temple is dedicated to Santinātha whose standing colossal image (17 ft. 3 inches high) is installed in the sanctum.
On stylistic grounds and on the basis of the palaeography of the short labels on the images, the temple is placed in the end of the gth century A.D.
Temple 13 - This is a small structure adjacent to the north wall of the mandapa of Temple 12. It consists of an east-west oblong hall with an entrance on the north and a sanctum on the shorter west side, both containing sculptures of seated and standing Jinas.
Temple 14 - This west-facing temple consists of an oblong north-south sanctum with two doorways and a verandah with a row of six pillars. Inside the sanctum are some Jina images. Its south-east portion is attached to the back wall of Temple 13 and the western end to the north wall of the mandapa of Temple 12.
Temple 15 - This west-facing temple is perhaps the oldest structure at the site. It is dvi-anga on plan consisting of bhadra and karna (Fig. 56), and has three shrines on three sides of a common square assembly hall entered through a rectangular porch from the west. The three shrines, of which the central shrine (eastern) is slightly smaller than those on the north and south, are walled at the back with shallow niches on the bhadras of their outside faces. The roof of each shrine is lost and the wall rebuilt, but it almost still retains its original form.
The temple does not stand on a moulded pitha but on a vedibandha which consists above the bhitta of a khura, kumbha, kalaša, kapota decorated with caitya-gavākṣas, and a plain pattika. The jangha-wall is plain but for shallow sculptured niches surmounted by tall udgama-pediments on two faces of the karņas and on the lateral sides of the entrance porch. The janghā is topped by a decorative band which has survived
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