________________
Retrospect
371
Of these innumerable Jaina temples, the two marble temples at Mount Abu in Rajasthan are considered as the most notable achievements of the Jainas in the domain of Art. The two temples are famous as unsurpassed models of Western or Gujarāti style of architecture which is characterised by a free use of columns carved with all imaginable richness, strut brackets, and exquisite marble ceilings with cusped pendants. The temples are known for the beauty and delicacy of the carving and for the richness of the design.86 As cousens remarks “the amount of beautiful ornamental detail spread over these temples in the minutely carved decoration of ceilings, pillars, doorways, panels and riches is simply marvellous; the crisp, thin transluent, shell-like treatment of the marble surpasses anything seen elsewhele and some of the designs are vertible dreams of beauty. The work is so delicate that ordinary chiselling would have been disastrous. It is said that much of it was produced by scraping the marble away, and that the masons were paid by the amount of marble dust so removed '.87 Again the Jaina temple at Rānapur in Mewar (which was built in 1440 A. D.) is the most complicated and extensive Jaina temple in India and the the most complete for the ritual of the sect. The temple covers altogether about 48,000 sq. ft. of ground and on the merits of its design Fergusson remarks that “The immerse numbei of parts in the building, and their general smallness, prevents its laying claim to anything like architectural grandeur; but their variety, their beauty of detailno two pillars in the whole building being exactly alike — the grace with which they are arranged, the tasteful admixture of domes of different heights with flat ceilings, and the mode in which the light in introduced, combine to produce an excellent effect. Indeed I know of no other building in India, of the same class that leaves so pleasing an impression, or affords so many hints for the graceful arrangement of columns in an interior."88 The other temples of such superb character are the temple of Pārsvanātha at Khajurāho in Bundelakhanda,89 the temple at Lakkundi in Karnāțaka, 90 the Jinanathapura Basti (j. e. temple near Sravanabelagola in Mysore,91 Seth Hathisingh's temple at Ahmedabad, 92 and the Hosa Basti at Mudabidri in South Kanara.93 It may be noted that the number of beautiful Jaina temples was considerably reduced during the Muslim period because the structure of Jaina temple was such that it could be easily converted into a mosque. The light columner style of the Jaina temples not only supplied materials
