Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

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

Page 122

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Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies
stepped in from a moonstone flanked by conch-shell, consists of seven jambs (saptaśākhā) of ratna (diamondand-bead), gana (musicians), vyāla, stambha, vyāla, gana and a śākhā forming the bevelled surround of the doorway. The last śākhā is decorated with wavy scrolls and is flanked by a frieze of mithunas. The decorations of the first two jambs are also carried up on the lintel, but above that it depicts a bold figure of Cakreśvarī as lalatabimba in the centre and a figure of seated Yakşi on each end, while the spaces in between them are filled with standing figures of Navagrahas. The overdoor over the bevelled surround of the doorway shows a frieze of seated Jinas with devotees. The frieze is surmounted by a cornice decorated with heart-shaped stencilled scrolls and a band of divine couples.
The interior of the mahāmaṇḍapa is ventilated by the entrance door and twelve perforated windows set upon the bhadras. Its solid wall is reinforced by sixteen almost plain pilasters. The pilasters support carved beams surmounted by three successive courses of ornate cornices. The top cornice supports the rectangular ceilings of the three bays enclosing the mahamandapa. The two lateral ceilings are similar and flat and shows a large lotus flower in the middle and an oval-shaped cusped flower on the two sides. The running wall of the mahamandapa enclosing the ambulatory passage of the sanctum, however, carries two more architraves at the top. These architraves and the interior wall of the sanctum support flat ceilings relieved with lotus flowers.
The square central bay of the mahamandapa is laid out on a floor which is slightly raised from the lateral sides and runs from the entrance doorway to the doorway of the sanctum. It consists of four pillars and a ceiling carried by them on a square frame of carved architraves and cornice. The pillars are exactly similar to those of the entrance porch. The ceiling is square but converted into a circle by cutting off the corners. The inner face of the circle is decorated with stencilled scrolls, while each of its four corners has a socket for receiving the usual Śalabhanjikā bracket resting on the snake figure
between the bhūta-brackets of the pillar capital. The ceiling proper shows a flower made up of four courses of sixteen-foil larger, sixteen-foil smaller, eight-foil and circular kolas. The antarala pilasters flanking the sanctum doorway are similar to those flanking the mahamandapa doorway, but the inner bhūta-brackets here show the image of Sarasvati on one side and Lakṣmi on the other. The bhūta-brackets carry a lintel decorated with half diamonds and triangular frills. The lintel is surmounted by a cornice adorned with stencilled scrolls and grasapaṭṭikā. The cornice supports a kola course and a flat rectangular ceiling relieved with three lotus flowers.
The pañcaśakha doorway of the sanctum consists of patra (scroll), gana, stambha decorated with frieze of mithunas, gana, and a śākhā forming the bevelled surround of the doorway and decorated with wavy scrolls in bold relief. The door-lintel, which continues the decorations of the two inner jambs, shows three projecting niches with Navagrahas in between them. The central niche contains a figure of seated Jina and each of the end niches shelters a standing Jina. The lintel is surmounted by a frieze of seated Jinas with attendant figures. At the base of the doorway surround stands a four-armed dvarapala seen by the Diggaja (an elephant to guard four or eight cardinal points). The doorsill shows a lotus stalk with two pairs of ascetics and two pairs of Vidyadevis on the central projection and four water divinities on two sides, each carrying a water jar and seated on kari-makara (mythical animal with trunk of an elephant and body of a crocodile).
The garbhagṛha is pañcaratha on plan and elevation. Its adhiṣṭhāna has two series of mouldings, the lower comprising a plain paṭṭikā, karnikā, jāḍyakumbha decorated with caitya-gavākṣas, karṇikā and grāsapaṭṭī, and the upper consisting of khura, kumbha, kalaśa, and antarapatta decorated with caitya-gavākṣas above and gagārakas below. The adhisthāna coincides with the top of the khura rather than the grasapaṭṭī. The janghawall repeats the three rows of sculptures of the outer facade and then shows two karnakas, kapota, broad fillet