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the rounded pinnacles of the domes as also the mountain ranges in the background and the flags - all are flushed with bright gold. The bulky Gautam Swami catches hold of the golden rays of the sun to reach the Tirthankar. Celestial damsels shower flowers from the sky. Gods appear in their flying chariots. The ten-headed Ravan is playing upon veena and Mandodari is dancing before the Lord. As the story goes, a string of the veena of Ravan is broken. Ravan takes out a vein from his leg and fixes it on the veena in place of the broken string. Various scenes painted from the lives common men such as a working woman, a farmer with a plough, a man with a basket on his head, a woman selling flowers etc. provide a novel type of framing to the painting and highlight its central theme. For the mundane scenes are in direct contrast to the spiritual theme of the pat. The magnificent composition of the pat, the deft rendering of forms in delicate touches, the skilful use of colours and the innate dynamism of the composition that facilitates the eye of the beholder to move smoothly from place to
unlad place, give it a rare quality of artistic excellence. The pat is highly damaged at many parts at present.
The second pat, is on the right-hand side of the garbh gruh. It is that of Sametshikharji. Unfortunately this pat is also damaged and hence indistinct in parts. The pat is composed of fifteen temples and the flags flapping freely over their high domes, which are painted in bright gold. All the temples are dedicated to one or the other Tirthankar depicted in either padmasan mudra or kausagga mudra. Five
TI more temples are painted at the middle of the pat. A number of devotees, kings, business magnets and women wearing ornaments stand with their hands folded near the temples. A river with fish swimming in it divides one group of temples from the other. There is a fort with four gates on the left hand side of the pat. A king and his queen have come to offer their prayers at the temple of a goddess.
Figures in a hut above cannot be discerned clearly. A royal personage is seen dipping a pitcher into the river. Two temples, one being that of a goddess and another being that of Humananji, are on the right hand side
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Jain Kashthapat Chitra : 41
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