Holy Abu

Author(s): Jayantvijay
Publisher: Yashovijay Jain Granthmala

Page 36

Introduction]
ture. The present Kailasa Cave-shrine was not the work of one ruler, nor does it represent only one style according to his analysis. Similarly, [the Jaina Caves at Ellora represent different styles, or sometimes in one and the same cave at Badami and Ellora one comes across earlier and later relief carvings. Even so, the Vimala Vasahi or the Sun-temple at Modhera or the Dabhoi fort deserve a fresh study with this critical eye. Most of the sculptures of Vimala Vasahi do not seem to belong to the age of Vimala Sāha (c. 1030 A. D.) or at Moḍhera to c. 1022 A. D. The famous Sabhamandapa of Vimala-vasahī with its wonderful lotus-pendent in the main ceiling and figures of the sixteen Vidyādevīs, was either rebuilt or newly added by Prthvipāla, a minister of Kumarapala in c. 1204-06 V. S. (11481150 A. D.), i.e., at least 116 years after the erection of the shrine by Vimala. Figure sculpture on various pillars supporting the whole Mandapa along with its porticos or the sculptures and reliefs in its various ceilings do not show a uniform style. In an adjacent smaller dome, in one of the porticos, is a figure of Saraswati having on each side a male worshipper standing on a lotus (fig. 23) with his name inscribed below (not visible in the photograph as the names are inscribed on the lower face of the lotus near the stalk) showing that the two figures represent two artists, Sutrahāra Kelä ( with a measuring-rod in hand, on the left of Sarasvati and Sutrahāra Loyana (with folded hands on the right of the goddess) who must be identified as the chief architect and sculptor (respectively) of this Mandapa. The figures of Vidyadevis, in the main ceiling of the Mandapa, alike in style to that of the Sarasvati image or of the Lakshmi in the corresponding dome of the portico on the other side of the Rangamanḍapa, as also the many-armed goddesses in the corridor-ceiling of this
1
1 Both may be architects and sculptors.
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