________________
The Jaina Heritage of Karnataka and Sravanabelgola
133
the tirthankaras. The dramatic impact of these images would be lost if the contrast between outside and inside was not so stated. This impact is similar to the large Buddhist images in the shrines of sites like Ajanta. This points to more of a sense of congregation and group worship in a religion like Buddhism. The contrast is most striking between this and the Hindu approach which ultimately reduces the temple to a small image or symbol directed to individual personal devotion.
Postscript
Many of the still active Jaina temples in Karnataka are the large group in South Kanara District at the sites of Mudabidri, Kārkala, Veņūr, etc. The temples on the whole post-date the temples built at Sravanabelgoļa and represent the period of time when Vaişņavism and more importantly the growth of Vira-Saivism throughout much of the state forced the Jainas to seek refuge along the south-west coast. It is here that we find some of the great Jaina libraries of South India and some of the oldest of all of the Jaina manuscripts.
South Kanara District also presents us with a very distinctive architectural style which dates from the 15th century to the most part. This architecture has often been compared to that of Nepal but the connections are not easy to trace. On the whole the peculiarities of the style have affinities to the architecture of Kerala farther down the coast. The use of sloping roofs gives these temples a very different appearance from all of the temples so far discussed. Where the Santara and Kadamba architect in Shimoga District was content to use a heavy wedge shaped stone cornice on the mandapas of these temples, the superstructures of many of the South Kanara temples display heavily bracketed large wooden roofs, often in more than one storey.
There may be a few temples which perhaps date as far back as the 10th century, but the Jaina monuments are much more recent. "The most famous of these is the Tribhuvana Tilaka Cūļāmaņi, more commonly called the Candranātha or Thousand Pillared basti at Mūdabidri. It was constructed at a few different times starting in ca. 1429. It is rather plain from the exterior since much of the temple is overpowered by the huge two-storey wooden roof, but it is a large temple of great beauty. The many pillared mandapa at the front gives the basti its popular name. This mandapa with its ornate columns most definitely discredits the theory that granite does not lend itself to fine carving, since many of the details on the interior of the temple are extremely ornate. Although very late by Indian standards it is a glorious tribute to the virtuosity of the Kannadiga carftman and is a fitting conclusion to the history of Jaina architecture of Karnāšaka.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
