Jain Journal 1984 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 58

APRIL, 1984
was obtained from the ruins of Charra. A photograph of this temple was published in Indian Archaeology, 1960-61, p. 67, pl. 78B (Archaeological Survey of India). It shows the curvilinear form of the roof with vertical rows of decorative features, consisting of replicas of the temple with figures of Jaina Tirthankaras in between them. According to Dr. R. C. Mazumdar, "This is a distinctive feature not found in any actual temple of this type in Bengal."14 Several other miniature temples all with Jaina Tirthankara figures in the central niches were discovered from Charra but unfortunately except some fragments of the same, all the well-preserved replicas have since been transported elsewhere. Among those, two miniature temples have been collected by the Ramkrishna Mission, Purulia and the third one has been kept in the house of Sri Anil Choudhuri, Amla Para, Purulia.
The superb specimen of this type of rekha miniature was collected from the Jaina remains of Palma, a village situated on the Purulia-Manbazar road and is now enshrined in the modern Jaina temple in the heart of Purulia town. This slim miniature temple is triratha on plan with three mouldings in the pābhāga. In the central niches are sculptured four standing figures of Jaina Tirthankaras under trifoiled arches. The existence of these arches is very interesting because we do not find the use of such arches in the rekha temples of Manbhum standing to this day. The gandi has five divisions. The central paga, decorated with intricate scroll work is wide at the base but grows narrow as it mounts to the top. The other pagas have khurā-shaped mouldings. The thick and high beki rises over the bisama and is crowned by a thick, round and faceted amalaka surmounted by what was perhaps a kalaśa now broken. This miniature temple contains one line inscription engraved in the lowest step of the pābhāga below one of the Tirthankaras. The inscription written in local language has been read by Dr. D. C. Sircar as dānapati āṇīsum. The inscription does not tell us who this anisum was except that he has been described as 'dānapati' or 'great donor'. He might have been a Jaina monk, a pilgrim or a lay devotee of the Faith. Whatever might have been his personal status, he did a commendable job by offering this Caumukha temple or pratimā-sarvatobhadrikā as a mark of respect to the Jaina Tirthankaras and devotion to the Faith and earned the epithet 'dānapati'. The date of the inscription has been tentatively fixed by Dr. Sircar in the 11th Cent. A.D. Evidently, Palma where this miniature temple was found among other Jaina remains was a flourishing centre of the Jainas in the 11th Cent. A.D.
14 History of Ancient Bengal, p. 617.
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