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Introduction]
evolution of sculptural art in Gujarat. Puṇḍarīka sits on a big full-blown lotus with a long thick stalk, in the dhyāna mudra. On one side of the stalk is an achārya preaching to a pupil in front, sitting on the other side of the stalk, the group making a perfect composition. Figures show slim, long and graceful limbs.
Another important image on the mount is a small metal figure of a Tirthankara, with an inscription on the back which shows that it was installed in Siddha-Hema-Kumāra Samvat year 4.3 This image, also discovered by Muni Shrï Punyavijaya,is the only specimen which proves the literary traditions that an era of Siddharaja Jayasimha, the famous Solanki ruler of Patan was started in Gujarat. The era does not seem to have survived long.
The temple attributed to Vimala saha at Shatruñjaya deserves a more critical study of its plan and the sculptures inside are noteworthy.
At Girnar, the oldest Jaina temple was perhaps that of Kumārapāla, repaired in the past century to such an extent that it has lost much of its original outlook. The temple of Neminatha, the largest of the group on the mount, enclosed in a big courtyard, met with the same fate and traces of old architecture are hard to obtain, though the original plan seems to have been retained.
The temple of Neminatha faces west and has two more approaches on the two sides. In the sanctum, which is a square shrine, is worshipped Neminatha, the twenty-second Jaina Tirthankara. Round the shrine is the Bhamati or circumambulatory passage, and in front, a cruciform maṇḍapa which is an old mandapa, the other in front with two platforms is a later structure. There are a few smaller Discussed by Muni Shri Punyavijaya, in Jaina Satya Prakasha, Vol. 8, no. 9. pp. 259ff.
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