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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000
(PART IV
Niche 17 carries the image of a four-armed goddess scated in lalitasuna with the head and hands broken. Niche 18 on the eastern end of the north face contains the sculpture of a four-armed goddess seated in lalitasana over a fish. She holds varada, abhaya and net in the surviving hands and may be identified as Kandarpā, the Svetāmbara Yakpl of the fifteenth Tirthankara.
Niche 19 on the north-east corner of the janghd shows the consort of Revanta seated in lalitasana. She is four-armed and carries vajra, khatvanga, net and umbrella. A horse is depicted below the seat.
The mukha-mandapa of the temple is supported on four pillars. The ceiling is triangular with a lenticular compartment of cusped and coffered design of the samaksipta-variety. There is similar ceiling between the two inner pillars of the mukha-mand apa and the doorway of the mand apa
The mand apa-doorway is of the panca-sakha variety, the sakhas showing respectively designs of scrolls, serpents, couples and two pilasters. The couples alternate with bhūtas or paša-like design. The lalafa-bimba shows an image of eight-armed Cakreśvari riding on Garuda. In three of the surviving left hands she holds lotus, cakra and fruit. In her only surviving right hand she holds lotus-stalk. The door-jambs show at the base figures of Ganga and Yamunā, each flanked by attendants and dvdra-palas.
The mand apa is centrally supported on four pillars. Its ceiling is octagonal and probably; of the samaksipta-variety, consisting of four diminishing courses of gajatalus, which are only partly preserved. The lintels and architraves of the mand apa-ceiling are decorated with two rows of miniature shrines. Against the southern wall of the mand apa is placed a colossal standing image of Jina flanked by two male devotees.
All the pillars of the interior are alike in shape and design and are heavily decorated. The shaft of the pillar is square at the lower and upper sections with a fluted sixteen-sided middle section decorated with chain-and-bell designs. The pillar-capital comprises a flattened circular cushion, a square abacus decorated with kirttimukha and scrolls, an amalaka and an upper abacus decorated with foliage and two square cushions of the ribbed pattern. The pillar-capitals are surmounted by brackets of curved profile decorated with Nagasin anjalimudra.
Some charming decorative motifs include a peculiar variety of kirttimukha (plate 100B) and richly-carved ghata-pallava.
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