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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 600 TO 1000
[PART IV Deogarh also abounds in sculptures and mana-stambhas and has a large number of inscriptions. The images in the temples or in the open area at this site number from one thousand to cleven hundred. Only one Jina image deftnitely belongs to the immodiately post-Gupta period (etrca seventh-eighth centuries), while about fifty images, including the original ones in Temples 12 and 15, are assignable to the ninth century. Nearly the same number pertains to the tenth century, while the remaining ones largely date from the eleventhtwelfth centuries.
Separated by a modern compound-wall bearing ancient sculptures (plate 107), Temple 12 is a sandhara structure comprising a sanctum with ambulatory and antarala. The sanctum is panca-ratha on plan and carries a panca-ratha curvilinear sikhara of massive proportions (plate 108) with a conspicuous šukanása. Its outer decor is distinctive and shows on the jangha latticed windows alternating with pilasters. The latticed windows are inset with shallow niches, surmounted by tall and thin udgamas. The niches contain relief-figures of twenty-four labelled Yakşls with the respective Jinas around the jangha. The structure also shows doorway-designs on the three bhadraprojections of the jahgha. That this temple was dedicated to Jina Santinātha is attested by a number of inscriptions. The standing image of Jina Såntinătha, over 5 m. high, occupies the entire height of the sanctum and has a large parikara, flanked by smiling figures of câmara-bearers standing in elegant tri-bhanga. These figures, together with four independent images of Yakşi Ambikā similarly standing in suave tri-bharga, two placed inside and two just outside the sanctum, are sculptured in the high Prathāra style of the ninth century.
Temple 15 is a tri-urusa-prasada (triplo-shrined structure) with the fikhara lost and now replaced by a flat roof with an incongruous Bundela cupola in the middle. It has #low. vedi-bandha and a plain fanghd relieved by shallow sculptured niches surmounted by udgamas. The temple consists on plan of three tiny sancta sharing a common nava-ranga-mandapa, which is entered from a porch through a doorway. The flat ceiling of the mandapa is supported on four central pillars and twelve pilasters. The pillars and pilasters carry typical Pratthåra ornaments, viz. designs of ghafa-pallava, lotus-medallions, palmyrabrackets and ribbed Amalakas. Similarly, the doorway bcars typical Pratthara ornaments which include the chain-and-bell design. The main image of this temple, a masterpiece of early medieval art, represents a scated figure of Jina, radiating spiritual bliss and effulgence and recalling in its sansitive modelling
