Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

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

Page 77

Rock-cut Jaina Architecture
The door leads to a narrow balcony which is damaged now. The hall and its entrance door are incomplete, but the excavation of some parts shows that it was intended to be about 20 ft. square with four pillars.
The shrine is about 9 ft. by 6 ft. and has only a seat against the back wall for the receipt of the image.
Cave 3 - It is (Fig. 40) like the lower storey of Cave 1 but has a perforated screen wall in the front, now much weather-worn, and a vestibule preceding the shrine. Its verandah measures 25 ft. by 9 ft. and has a life-sized image of Sarvānubhūti at the left wall and of Ambikă at the right, both seated on their respective mounts with attendant figures and set up between two pilasters crowned by makara-torana arch. The mango- tree associated with Ambikā is represented here by six conventionalized sprays hanging at equal distance under the arch.
The hall, which is entered from the verandah by a doorway with only a moderate amount of carvings, measures 25 ft. long by 21 ft. deep and has usual arrangement of four square pillars with a fine ceiling (Pl. 16). The pillars have a square moulded base with an uncarved triangular boss on each face. Their shaft is plain and square below; then it turns into faceted circular and square sections respectively, the last one decorated with scrolls and kirttimukhas; and lastly comes an uncarved kalasa. The capital consists of a karņaka like ghata, round abacus and corbels of bhäraputrakas. The architraves across the pillars are thin and flat. The flat ceiling is boldly relieved with four concentric rows of lotus petals and a central pistil. The first and fourth (innermost) rows consist of twenty-four and sixteen plain petals respectively. The second row consists of twenty- four petals, each occupied by some divine figure, singly or with a companion, and mounted on animal or bird. The third row contains sixteen petals, each carved with a figure of dancer or musician. The whole lotus is enclosed by an octagonal border carved with diamonds and beads; outside this, in one corner, is a single male
figure standing on one foot, and the other three have each a larger figure dancing or making music, with two smaller ones (Fig. 41).
The back wall of the hall, on each side of the vestibule, has about a life-sized, standing, robeless figure of Säntinātha on left and of Pārsvanātha on right, both set into an ornamental niche with their accompaniments. The shrine door is incomplete as its two jambs alone have been worked out. The shrine inside measures 12 ft. square and has a seat for the image in the middle of it. Behind the seat to the right is a hole into a small room containing a Jina figure transferred there during the time of Muslim iconoclasm.
Cave 4 - It has a verandah in front, hall in the middle and shrine at the back (Fig. 39). The verandah measuring 30 ft. by 8 ft. has two massive plain square pillars and two pilasters in front and a low bench on either end. The entrance door of the hall is similar to that of Cave 1, but here it is more ornate. The hall is 24 ft. long and 18 ft. deep; its roof is supported by two pillars across the middle, one pilaster in alignment with them on each side wall, two corresponding pilasters on the front as well as the back, and a quarter one at each corner. The corbels of the columns are adorned with scrolls instead of bhäraputrakas. A low bench has been wrought along the back wall, which serves as a step to the shrine door. The shrine has only a seat with an incomplete arched recess at the back. On a pillar of the verandah is an inscription of the 11th 12th century A.D., which is also the date of these excavations at Tankai.
Caves 5-7 – These caves are smaller and much damaged and have doors similar to those found in Caves 1 and 2. In the shrine of one of these is a figure of Jina seated in dhyānamudrā on lion-throne with triple umbrella above. CHAMAR
The Chamar hill lies a few miles north of Nasik town in Maharashtra. The hill contains two Jaina caves
Jain Education Intemational
ucation Intermational