Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

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

Page 247

Jaina Temple Architecture : South India
225
The central bay of the wall-pilasters contains a sham- niche topped by a low square superstructure. The cornice is short and semi-circular; it hardly protects the wall from rain-water.
The gūdhamandapa has considerably suffered from renovation as the portion above the base has been rebuilt. It is entered from the north by a stairway of elephant banister bearing elephant figures in relief.
Stylistically, the temple may be placed in the second half of the 10th century A.D.
Jaina Temple (Anonymous) - This Jaina temple has also been renovated during recent years, but the enshrined image of Säntinatha and the two male cauri- bearers attending upon him are intact. The attendant figures are well-polished, wear profuse jewellery, and have graceful appearance. They are reckoned among the best examples of the Hoysala sculptures assignable to the early 12h century A.D. HARASUR
Harasur, lying cast of the district headquarters of Dharwad, has a group of three Jaina temples. The main complex is a Triple Shrine (trikūtācala) with easterly orientation and the other two, standing very close to it on the front, are independent structures facing each other, one oriented to the north and the other to the south (Fig. 113). In the centre of the court formed by these three structures is a Mānastambha of which only the base has survived.
The three vimānas of the Triple Shrine have an antarāla-mandapa in their front and are laid out on three sides of a common gudhamandapa with entrance doorway on the east. The central vimäna on the west shows bhadra with two pairs of upabhadras, pratiratha and karņa, separated from one another by salilantaras, while the lateral vimānas carry karna and bhadra with paired upabhadras. Their adhisthana consists of an upana, two jagatis, padma, kantha, ürdhvapadma and kapota. Their plain walls are heavily rebuilt at some later date and hence of little interest. Inside the garbhagrhas are installed the images of Jinas. The image in the central shrine
is of Parsvanātha. This indicates that the temple was dedicated to him.
The exterior walls of the gūdhamandapa also show karna and bhadra with two pairs of upabhadras. The gūdhamandapa is entered from the east through a wellproportioned doorframe of five jambs of ratna, Vidyadhari, stambha, vyāla and bāhyaśākhā (outermost) carved with lotus leaves, but there is no uniformity in ornamental details of carving. While the ratnasakha and bāhyaśākhā show flat and shallow relief, the Vidyadhari -sakha and vyālašākhā are carved in high relief. Similarly, the stambhaśākha is moulded but has no ornamental enrichment. The lower portion of the doorframe on each side shows a graceful, three-flextured figure of Nagendra standing as door-guard in a wellformed shallow niche crowned by makara-torana. Nāgendra is flanked on each side by a handsome figure of female attendant. The door-sill is plain but carries seated figures of Sankhanidhi and Padmanidhi at the extremities and of grasamukha in the centre of the upper moulded part. The door-lintel shows a seated niched figure of Pārsvanātha on the lalāța; but the oversailing mouldings (vājana, kantha and cornice) above that are left plain.
The interior of the gudhamandapa shows four square plain pillars in the nave and two slender, segmented pillars as distyle-in-antis towards each antarāla. There are several images of Jinas, Yaksas and Yakṣis inside the closed hall. These bear different dates indicating thereby that they were placed there from time to time.
The independent northern and southern shrines are exactly similar to each other in plan and design. Each shrine consists of a vimana with gūdhamandapa in one enclosing wall and a portico (Pl. 98) built almost along the entire width of the gudhamandapa. The exterior walls have only slight projections in the cardinal directions. Their adhisthana consists of three jagatis, kantha inset with floral diamonds between pilasters and a large plain väjana. The four pillars in each portico
Jain Education Intemational