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Post-Mahāvīra Period and the Contribution of Jainism
Reference may also be made to the five groups of Jaina images cut in relief on the face of the steep cliff below the fort of Gwalior; they were executed between AD 1440 and 1473.391 Some of these images are colossal; one of them is 57 feet high.392
Architecture
In the field of architecture the contribution of Jainism has been truly memorable. Jainism did not create a separate architecture.393 It drew from and always depended on Hindu architecture.394 In the construction of temples the Jainas followed the structural pattern of the Hindus.395 The Jainas adopted the local building traditions for their edifices.396 The Hindu and the Jaina temples at Khajuraho are alike.397 But the Jaina temples were not exact carbon copies of the Hindu temples; they differed from them in some respects because the theistic requirements of Jainism are somewhat different from those of Hinduism.398 For instance, departure from the style of Hindu architecture can be seen in some Jaina temples of Karnataka.399
The Jainas had a passion for religious-building, and through the ages, they built numerous temples, some of which can be called the pride of India. The Jainas chose beautiful sites for the construction of such edifices. It was
390. HOFA, p. 268. 391. Ibid. 392. Ibid. 393. AJAA, p. 319; E.B. Havell, The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India, 1915, p. 175. 394. Ibid., p. 319. 395. H. Zimmer, op. cit., p. 134; E.B. Havell, oc. cit., pp. 65-6. 396. E.B. Havell, op. cit., p. 175; AJAA, pp. 319-20. 397. Percy Brown, Indian Architecture, Buddhist and Hindu, 2nd edn., p. 136; HOFA, p. 23;
HIEA, pp. 245-6. 398. AJAA, pp. 319-20. 399. IGI, II, p. 170.
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