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Jaina Temple Architecture: North India
RAJORGADH
Rajorgadh (Paranagara), medieval Rajyapura, is situated in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. It was the seat of a feudatory branch of the Gurjara Pratīhāras ruling in the 10th century A.D. There are in all fourteen temples in various stages of preservation. Of these the temple No. 9 in stone is Jaina with westerly orientation.
Temple 9 It consists of a tri-anga sanctum and a hall. The shrine is surrounded by four corner shrines and the hall by two lateral shrines. The temple stands on an undecorated low pitha. The vedībandha of the wall is tall but plain. The wall above and the sikhara have gone. The shrine is dedicated to Jina Santinatha whose colossal image, some 16 ft. 9 inches high, still stands in the ruined sanctum. It was built by Sarvadeva, a disciple of Acarya Surasena of the Dharkata community, at the instance of prince Pulīndra.
In the ruined hall the bases of the nave columns stand on a slightly raised platform.
Compared to that of the main shrine, the pitha of the subsidiary shrines is richly ornamented. The pitha of the four corner shrines shows a tall plain bhitta, jadyakumbha beautifully adorned with lotus petals, kumuda, antarapatta decorated with chequer pattern, gräsapatti, gajathara and narathara.
The two lateral shrines have four pillars each for supporting the roof, now gone. On the top of the pitha of each shrine is a platform which was probably intended to support Nandiśvaradvipa, Sahasrakūta, Aṣtāpada or Samavasaraṇa. A fragment of fine ceiling recovered from near the site shows four robeless Jaina monks bearing gocchaka-broom instead of peacock-feather broom, suggesting that the temple did not belong to the Digambara sect but to the Botika or Acela-Kṣapanaka
sect.
Ghanerav is a Jaina pilgrimage centre located in the Pali district of Rajasthan. To the east-south-east of
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the town, at a distance of four miles, is an old temple of Mahāvīra built of sandstone and facing the north.
In elevation the sanctum shows three traditional divisions of pitha, wall and sikhara. The pitha of the sanctum as well as the gudhamandapa consists of two bhittas, jādḍyakumbha, kumuda, antarapaṭṭa and a paṭṭikā, all being well-shaped but undecorated, barring the jäḍyakumbha which is decorated with caitya-gavakṣa pattern. The bhadra projections of the pitha carry sculptured niches which, commencing from the east face of the gudhamandapa and running clockwise, contain images of Padmavati, Cakreśvarī, Brahmaśānti, Nirvāṇī and Gomukha. The vedībandha of the wall consists of five bold mouldings of khura, kumbha, kalasa, antarapatta and kapota, the last being adorned with caitya-gavākṣa pattern. The jangha-wall above carries boldly carved images of two-armed Dikpälas on the karnas (four on
Stylistically, the temple may be placed in the first the bifacial karnas of the sanctum, two on the antarala quarter of the 10th century A.D.
GHANERAV
walls and two on the front karnas of the gudhamandapa), each standing in a framed niche borne by a bharaputrakaatlantes, and powerful vyālas on gajamunda brackets in the saliläntaras. Above each vyala is a Gandharva,
Mahavira Temple It (Fig. 66; Pl. 34) consists of a sanctum enclosed by an ambulatory, antarāla, gudhamandapa, mukhamandapa preceded by a porch and rangamandapa, the last one surrounded by twentyfour devakulikās. The whole of the temple-complex stands on a low platform supporting on its top a prākarawall starting from the point where the devakulikās end.
The sanctum is dvi-anga on plan consisting of karna and prominent bhadra; between the angas are saliläntara-recesses. The three bhadras of the sanctum are equilateral and have balconied projections above the vedībandha, while the karnas are broken into three planes each. The balconies support screen walls which are made up of fine stone grilles that admit faint light to the interior. The gudhamandapa, though square, is of the size of the sanctum (28 ft. 6 inches wide) and corresponds to the latter in having bhadra projections and elevational lineaments.
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