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selecting "secluded picturesque sites for temples", but there is no doubt about the recognition that nature in all her beauty provides an optimum meeting place for body and spirit. It was under the vaulted canopy of the banyan tree - Nature's own cathedral - that Lord Buddha received his enlightenment. The Buddha was acting on the belief shared by Jain monks that Nature speaks with many tongues to the deep levels of the human soul, and hence the practice of locating temples, schools and monasteries in arboreal settings.
Unlike Buddhists, Jain temples give a central place to idol-worship, signifying the elevated place accorded to Jain Tirthankaras, and intending their emulation by devotees. In time, similar honor was given to icons of Acaryas (teachers), Siddhas (enlightened Ones), Sruta Devi (Goddess of Learning), and Yakshi (female folk deity). Icons took on symbolic form, such as the circle for Mahavira.
Next, Bhattacharya introduces us to the Jain Temple of Khajuraho, which served as capital city of the Chandelas in the middle ages. We peer into the Parsvanatha Shrine - the largest and best preserved. Bhattacharya notes that the image of Parsvanatha "is of recent origin," installed in 1860 A.D., and observes that "the outer walls of the temple are decorated with fine sculptures like that of a woman writing a love letter, a lady fondling her child, a Nayika (heroine) painting her feet, a lady at her toilet and a female figure extracting a thorn from her foot" - mundane images celebrating the common life.
Moving along. Joginder Chawla exclaims: "You are simply mesmerised when you enter the magnificent Jain temple at Ranakpur". Set in solitary grandeur within the forested valley of the Aravali hills in Rajasthan, and built over a period of 50 years at a cost of rupees 9.9 million, "this three-storeyed wonder in marble, also called Chaturmukha (lit. four-faced) Jain Temple of Rishabhadeva, was given this shape by four devotees". Though its space is wide, with forty-feet-high pillars, "there is perfect architectural balance and harmony in shape. Artistic engravings and sculptures give it at feeling of ecstasy and divine bliss". Jain mythology declares humans must undergo 8,400,000 births before attaining salvation; "the figure of 84 shrines in the temple is a symbolic reminder of these 84 lakh births and deaths".
This bird's-eye view of some famous Jain temples through the lenses of Bhattacharya and Chawla provide useful information and insights in respect of the significance of temples in the Jain tradition, and their meaning for today. First, though. part of the Indian mainstream, Jain builders were not afraid to be inventive and strike out on their own. Second, temples are not simply structures of stone and mortar, but are living shrines of Jain values, with their dominant quality of compassion. Third, Jain temples unite nature with spirit, the sacred with the secular, and mutually hallow the affairs of heaven and earth. The challenge to us today is to break new ground in respect of an understanding of the role of the temple for each community. Honolulu is not the same as Houston. Innovate!
Temples must not be built as ego trips for the rich and famous, nor as comfortable country clubs for birds that get high on pluming and preening their own coloured feathers. We must transcend the tradition's historic error of being at ease in the temple
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