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CHAPTER 36)
The houses may, yet again, be classified under eight types: surya, vasava, virya, käläksa, buddhi, suvrata, präsäda and dvivedha. Each of these eight has sixteen varieties, and as such, the total number comes to one hundred and twenty-eight.
ARCHITECTURE
Apart from these, there is one more type of classification of houses specially meant for kings. It is the king only who is allowed to have a house round on plan, if he so likes.
CONCEPT OF THE TEMPLE
The Sanskrit words mandira and alaya, both denoting something like a shelter, specify the temple particularly in Jaina references, where, however, more ancient than these two is the word ayatana dating back to the time of Mahavira who often used to stay in Yakşayatanas in the course of his viharas; later it joined the compound word Jinayatana and was still later replaced by the words mandira, ǎlaya, geha, grha, etc.
The concept behind the temple in Jainism is perhaps nowhere indicated. Essentially dedicated to one of the Tirthankaras, the temple, if it is taken to be a memorial, may win some logic, but surely not if is taken to be a funeral relic structure. But more logical does it seem to interpret the temple as the symbolic representation not of the Meru but of the samavasarana (below, p. 529) or the fascinating auditorium of the Tirthankara who, as one of those to be bowed before any one of the other Parameşthins, would deliver a sermon only inside the samavasaraṇa, whose idol was the first to appear and whose iconic symbol in the form of the mula-nayaka or main deity must be installed in the temple. Many a temple, whether ancient or modern, has in front the manastambha which is one of the component parts of the samavasarana (below, p. 530). The samavasarana, thus once symbolized as an architectural composition, even if a miniature one, lost its chance to be symbolized otherwise. Erroneous will it be to include the samavasaraṇa, which is absolutely indigenous to Jainism, amongst the funeral relic structures like stupa or aidūka, or even the jārūka or jālūka and ziggurat. Caitya, if it at all be referred to in this connexion, would support this contention. Both the words ayatana and caitya have the same meaning. The samavasarana being too complicated to be represented literally
1 'It can hardly be doubted that there exists some connection between temples and tombs', A.K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, New York, 1927, p. 47.
Bhagavati-drådhand, Sholapur, 1935, p. 46.
⚫caityam ayatanamh tulye, Amar-akoşa, II, 2, 7.
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