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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 1300 TO 1800
(PART VI India. On Mount Abu, amongst the famous Dilwādā group of temples, is found a caumukha dedicated to Tirthankara Pārsvanatha. It appears from an inscription on the four-faced image of the cella that the temple was constructed in 1459. This caumukha followed immediately the construction of the celebrated example of the type at Ranakpur. On plan it also shows four mand apas adjoining the sanctum on four sides; the main entrance is on the west. The mandapas, however, are more extensive than those of the Ranakpur temple, and their ceilings are apparently inspired by the much-renowned Tejahpāla temple at the place. The outer walls of the double-storeyed sanctum and of the mand apas are fully engraved with figures representing Jaina deities. Built in grey stone, the temple, with its pinnacle, is the tallest of all the existing shrines of the Dilwādā.
Another significant example of caumukha temple is situated within the Karalavasi-Tuk of the great temple-city on the Satrunjaya mountain near Palitana. The temple, situated on the apex of the northern ridge, was bulit in 1618. To effect the plan of a four-faced' shrine, the sanctum, which is 7 m. square and almost 30 m. high with a surmounting lofty śikhara has been provided with four requisite entrances. But in this example only one mand apa is met with, and this is connected to the eastern entrance of the sanctum and is preceded by the main portal. Hence, this caumukha temple shows the usual ground plan of a Nägara temple prevalent in western India and as such should not be classed with the sarvatobhadra type. Nevertheless, the three other openings have porches leading into the surrounding courtyard, and above each porch rises an elegant second storey with characteristic balconied window, as if to justify its awareness of the composition of a typical caumukha temple. The temple contains an additional range of exterior cells incorporated into its western walls and screened by a pillared verandah. The overall effect of the temple is that of an animated architectural form commensurate with the usual feeling of the Jainas for elaboration and multiplication.
The same spirit for elaboration and multiplication seems to have worked for generations among the Jainas who are well-known for building temple-cities at various sacred spots. Among these temple-cities the more celebrated are those on the mountains of Parasnath (Sametaśikhara) in Bihar, Satrunjaya and Girnar in Gujarat, Abu in Rajasthan and Vindyagiri (Sravanabelgola) in Karnataka. Two of the most important of these templecities are on the Satrunjaya and Girnar in western India (plates 237, 238). Again, the largest of them is that on the Satrunjaya, south of the
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