Holy Abu

Author(s): Jayantvijay
Publisher: Yashovijay Jain Granthmala

Page 39

[Holy Abu In none of the Prashastis is it said that Prthvipāla repaired the old Mandapa. It is, therefore, safer to assume that this wonderful Maṇḍapa was a work of the age of Kumārapāla. As stated above, a study of the art-style of the sculptures points to the same conclusion. Incidentally we might note that Sūtrahāra Kela and Sūtrahāra Loyaṇa, attending upon Sarasvati, noted above, must be regarded as the architect and sculptor of this famous mandapa.
Broadly speaking, figure sculpture of the age of Vimala Saha, was not aiming at heaviness of limbs which is seen in the sculptures of the age of Kumarapala. The image of Pundarikasvāmi, installed in V. S. 1064 (1007 A. D.) at Shatruñjaya, is a typical specimen of the sculptural art of the age of Vimala Saha-the legs are longer, limbs smooth and thinner, figures less heavy or static and better proportioned than in the sculptures of the time of Kumārapāla. This early Chalukyan style was adopted in some of the ceilings of the Kumbhāria shrines and in the Lūṇavasahi at Delvāḍā, towards the close of the thirteenth century in a somewhat degenerated form. But none of the sculptures of the time of later Solanki or Vaghela rulers could attain the high level of the Pundarika image installed by a Jaina monk of the Vidyadhara kula.
A comparison of the different pillars and sculptures at Moḍhera with those in the Luna Vasahi and the Vimala Vasahi will show that the Moḍhera Surya-Mandira has undergone later repairs and replacement of mutilated parts with carvings of later styles. The gateways of the Dabhoi fort tell us the same tale. The carvings on the outer face of the Hira-Gate may be compared with those on the Mahuḍī or the Nanderi Gate. The different gates were repaired even in the Marāṭhā period and there are a few sculptures which are late and crude copies of mutilated