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This wall frescoe which depicts the subject of Nandishwar dwip is unique in the whole of South Gujarat. It is in a highly damaged condition. It is nearly 127 years old. But it is not repainted or retouched by anybody at a later time. The explicit mention of the painter's name is extremely rare and hence of a great historical significance here.
Nandishwar dwip or the island or the continent of Nandishwar is the eighth of the mythological islands. At the centre of the pat is painted a temple with a flag flapping merrily at the top of its high dome and with the images of Tirthankars inside it. Gods with their hands folded in prayers are standing at the temple. There are figures of celestial damsels playing upon pipes and flying in sky above the temple which is flanked on both the sides with mountain ranges with high peaks. The high mountains are clad with trees. Figures of carnivorous animals like tigers and herbivorous animals like deers and rabbits are painted in the valleys and caves. Three circles each on both the right and on the left below the temple, symbolically represent the mountains of Manushyetar and Dadhimukh. There are wells with steps of stones to go down to reach the waters. Gods seated in their flying chariots come to offer their homage to the Lord. The gods include the god of Sun in a chariot with seven horses yoked to it. One of such chariots is drawn by a large serpent, one by an elephant, one by a wild boar, one by an eagle and so on. Indra seated on an elephant with seven trunks is here to offer his prayers too. Each of the chariots is decorated with flags flapping merrily and hanging bells. At the centre of the pat is depicted the Mul nayak engrossed in meditation while sitting in padmasan. There are more than 250 domed temples around the central one. Each of these small temples has a figure of a Tirthankar in it. Down at the bottom, one god is seated on a large fish on one side and another one on a peocock on the other side. One god is seated on a deer and another on a tiger.
The frescoe is remarkable for its masterly and balanced composition, careful delineation of minute details of the figures painted in bold lines and the use of very limited number of colours such as red, yellow, white, black and gold. The entire frescoe is decorated with tiny dots of colours.
The rang mandap has six pillars and there are six paintings on each side of every pillar. Thus there are 24 paintings on every one of the pillars. In all there are 144 paintings depicting devinities and celestial damsels. There are figures with four hands holding various weapons or musical instruments. The winged damsels are playing upon different musical instruments like kartal, zanz, ghant, nagara, shehnai, mrudang, tambur, veena and bhungal. The ceiling over the rang mandap is adorned with beautiful wood carvings.
34 : Jain Kashthapai Chitra
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