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CHAPTER 32}
WOOD-CARVINGS
Most of the Jaina temples are the gifts of single wealthy individuals of the middle class and that is why these buildings are generally small and deficient in that grandeur of proportion that marks the buildings undertaken under royal command. It may, however, be also owing to this fact that their buildings are more elaborately finished than those of greater importance.
The mand apa is erected on a series of pillars which support a beautiful and exquisitely-carved dome on architraves and beams, all of which are elaborately ornamented. Every inch of the mand apa-portion is full of rich carvings. The dome is made circular by the arrangement of pillars, twelve in number, erected equidistant and bridged by architraves. Bracketed capitals and struts were further devices, which, while meeting the architectural needs of the edifice, provided a very fertile field for the presentation of the most ornate features of wood-carving.
One of the most exquisite examples of a wooden Jaina temple is provided by the Wadi Pārsvanātha temple from Patan, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, Built in 1594, it was in Patan's Zaverivad locality when Burgess and Cousens' carried out their survey of the architectural antiquities of northern Gujarat about the year 1890 but was later on acquired by the Metropolitan Museum. Its roof is in the form of a dome rising to the height of 3-4 m. and with a diameter 3.3 m. It is decorated in concentric circles with figures and bands of ornament and has a lotus-shaped pendant hanging from the apex. Eight large bracket-figures are placed at equal intervals round the inside. There are female musicians and dancers, and between each pair of these is a seated male figure with two attendants. There are the eight Dik-palas under the dome and helping to support it are four balcony-windows, projecting inwards from each side of the apartment, which are very delicately worked (plate 296). Lower still is a dado running round the four walls and carved with musicians and dancers in niches, with rows of geese and other ornamented carvings below. The rosettes in the spaces between the brackets below the window-sills are rich and effective (plate 297).
SCULPTURE
The Jainas believe that a sandalwood portrait-sculpture of Vardhamăna was carved in his life-time when he was meditating in his palace about a year
1 James Burgers and Henry Cousens, The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, IX, London, 1903, p. 49.
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