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rulers founded the city of Patan. Maharaja Vanaraj Chavada was a devotee of Shri Devchandrasuriji with whose blessings he built the majestic temple of Panchashwar Parshwanath in Patan. Maharaja Siddharaj was a great patron of Jainism. Kumarpal embraced Jainisam and enjoyed the blessings of a number of Jain munis and acharyas. Kalikal Sarvagna Shri Hemchandracharya wrote the first systematic grammar of Gujarati language Siddhahaim during his rule. A number of temples were built and great libraries were founded. These libraries are welknown for their rich collection of rare manuscripts and ancient texts even today.
The muslim invaders brought about a wide spread destruction of temples and treasures of Gujarat. Two ministers of king Bhimdev, Vastupal and Tejpal were persons of great vision and determination. As a result of their tireless efforts, Gujarat enjoyed a brief spell of independence and peace. But Gujarat lost its independence once again as a result of the evil policies of Karnadev.
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During the days of the Great Mogul empire, Jainism began to recover its former glory. Akbar, the great, was highly enamoured of the ascetism, austerity, integrity, strength of character and unflinching faith of the Jain munis. He respectfully invited Shri Hirvijaysuriji from Gujarat and honoured him with the title Jagad-guru, the teacher of the world. He handed over to the muni, Shatrunjay, Girnar, Sametshikharji and Tarangaji by way of offering for all the time to come. Jahangir too had a great respect for the Jain acharyas. As against Akbar and Jahangir, Aurangzeb caused to destroy this good tradition.
That Jain art has a distinct course of evolution is not tantamount to saying that it has no thematic and stylistic correspondences to the kind of art that developed during the Gupta and Post Gupta eras. There is a magnificent Jain temple among the cave temples of Allur Ellora which belongs to the eighth century. Here the form of the Hindu God Indra takes on a slightly newer form. It reminds us of the style of Chalukya sculptures as in Badami, the Rashtrakuta style as in Elephanta and the Pallav style as in Mahabalipuram. It is characterized by meticulous and delicate carvings, an eye for proportion, magnificent pillars and delicately carved floral designs and a large and bulky Indra sitting on an elephant.
Jain sculptures are short in strature. In the initial stages, we have the idols of the Tirthankaras sitting in the yog mudra or standing in kayotsarg mudra. The idols are simple, straight and with no allusion to movement. Both the hands are straight and the knees both straight and stiff. The perfection of the body of the Tirthankaras is often compared with that of the body of a lion. These sculptures are characterized by strong and high chest, straight hands and highly polished broad shoulders forming a
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