________________
JAINA ANTIQUARY.
[Vol I
ornaments."i Each Tirthankara is distinguished from another by his colour, bis chinnha and lānchhana and the Yakshas and Yakshinis who attend on him; the Svetambara images differ from the Digambara particularly in the nudity and absolute lack of ornament in the latter. But, in the words of Mr. Nanalal C. Mehta,“ Somehow or other the aesthetic element was over.shadowed by other considerations, and size rather than strength in sculpture, elaboration of detail more than the beauty of form or outline in building, and narration more than accomplished expression in pictures become the dominant qualities of Indian art as developed under the austere influence of Jainism ”. 3
Another peculiar contribution of the Jainas, not only to Suth Indian, but also to the whole of Indian or even Eastern art, is the free-standing pillar, found in front of almost every basti or Jaina temple in South India. "In the whole range of Ingian art,' observes Smith, “there is nothing, perhaps, equal to these Ķanara pillars for good taste. A particularly elegant example, 52 ft., in height, faces a Jain temple at Mudbidrê. The material is granite, and the design is of singular grace (c. 11th or 12th cent. A. D.)".4 There are about twenty such pillars in the District of South Kanara alone, which made many other distinctive contributions to Jaina art, as we shall notice in the course of these pages. There are two kinds of such pillars in South India, namely, the Brahma-deva-stambhas and the Mānastambhas. The former bear figures of the Brahmanical god Brahma ; the latter are taller and have a small pavilion at the top on the capital.5 We have already referred to the Lyagada Brahma-deva pillar at Chandragiri which is considered a beautiful work of art'. The fine Māna-stambha in front of the Parsvanatha Basti at Sravana Belgola is distingui. shed by a sikhara over the cell which is always surmounted by a small dome," as is universally the case with every vimāna in Dra.
1, Walbouse cited by Smith, op. cit., pp. 238, 268. 2. Burgess, Digambara Jain Iconography, Ind. Ant. XXXII, p. 459 f. 3, Mehta, Studies in Indian Painting, p. 22. 4. Smith, op. cit., p. 22. 5. Ep. Ind. VIII, p. 123,
