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[Hoy Abu shrines near the southern entrance of the principal mandapa, which, as suggested by Dr. Sankalia, may not have belonged to the original temple. Attached to the regular enclosure of the whole temple area, on its inside, are smaller cells or Devakulikås with a closed corridor.1
The triple-shrine, built by Vastupāla in A. D. 1231-2 (V. S. 1288 ), is a noteworthy structure on Mount Girnār. a In the central shrine is worshipped Mallinātha, the 19th Tirthankara, while in the one on the north is erected a tall Sumeru structure, representing the mount Sumeru or Meru of Jaina cosmography. In the shrine to the south is worshipped a similar structural representation of the Mount Sammeta-Shikhara (situated in Bihār) where twenty Tīrthaukaras are reported to have obtained Nirvana. Between these shrines are two manqapas or one maņdapa having two separate domical roofs. The shikhara is modern though it retains the older shape. The triple-shrine may be compared with another such shrine at Kasārā.
The Jaina temple at Sarotrā with fifty-two devakulikās in the corridor of the shrine is known as Bāvana-(fifty-two)Jinalaya. In plan, it closely follows the plan of the temple of Vastupāla-Tejapāla at Ābu. The maņdapa has four steps in three divisions leading to the hall adjoining the sanctum. On each side of the principal entrance to the sabhāmandapa is a devakulikā, one enshrining a yakşha, the other a yakşhiņī. A third devakulikā behind the sanctum once contained, according to Dr. Sānkaliā, an image of a Shāsanadevī. The affinity of the temple to
1 Burgess, Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kachh, A rchaeological Survey of Western India, Vol. II (London, 1876), pp. 166ff. pl. xxxii. ... Ibid., pp. 169-70. pl. xxxiv. Sankalia, H. D., Archaeology of Gujarat, p. 110. fig. 20.
