________________
154
Jaina Monuments of Orissa
containing Jaina Tirthankara figures within their niches give us enough idea to the fact that even Jaina temples or religious shrines were built in subsequent periods taking into consideration of the broad features of Hindu monuments. No remains of stūpa, connected with any Jaina establishment like those of the Buddhists, are however, reported in the entire length and breadth of Orissa so far.
N.N. Vasu reported two ruined Jaina sites containing ancient temples of which one was located at Koisali, close to village Badasai in Mayurbhanja district. His report on the dilapidated temple at Koisali from where a Pärśvanātha image was recovered is given below.
"The place where the Pärávanātha image was set up in ancient times was excavated in April 1907. The western side of this place is 90ft. in length, the eastern side being 102 ft. the northern 55 ft. ard the southern 86ft. respectively. The portion already excavated has revealed the existence of an entire foundation and a portion of the ground floor of an ancient Jaina temple. The temple appears to have had a sanctum (garbha gļha) and a Jagamohana. It faces north. There is no means of ascertaining how long it has been in ruins. People say that earth had accumulated over the ruins of the temple 5 to 6 ft. deep. But it was afterwards removed and the ground levelled for the purposes of cultivation. We have been able to discover stone foundations here two to three feet below the ground. During excavation a large āmalaka was discovered amidst the ruins. The style of sculpture seems to be ancient and very fine. The ceiling of the rooms within the temple has iron work attached. This iron work found during the excavation proves that from very early times the people of Mayurbhanj know how to use that metal for building purposes. Specimens of pottery used in ancient times have also been found”. 18
The other place Pundal, is located at a distance of two miles to the north east of Ayodhya in Balasore district. Here once the image of a Jaina Tīrthankara was recovered from the bed of river Sona. Formerly, a temple stood on what is now the river-bed. The stones which once belonged to that temple are occasionally found in the sands of the river.
At Ayodhya we found extensive ruins of temples at a place near the High School. Dressed stones, āmalaka silas and other fragments of temples are found scattered around. But it is difficult to assign the ruins to either Buddhism or Jainism as the place appears to be extremely rich in antiquities of both these cults.
As indicated earlier, Koraput district of Orissa once dominated the scene of Jaina activity. A group of ruined Jaina shrines are noticed with in a rectangular enclosure at a place called Suai close to the metal road leading to Nandapur. Of the entire series of temples only two are still standing. Others are damaged completely leaving traces of their location only through overcrowding of dressed stones. Each cell has figure of Jaina divinity at its sanctum. They are all constructed of stones of local variety. On close examination of the available two shrines (Fig.112) it would be evident that each was a
18. N.N. Vasu, The Archaeological Survey of Mayurbhanj, pp. 46-47.
