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Jaina Architecture of Orissa
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triratha structure with a low tower topped by an amalaka. Their base mouldings indicate to an earlier date. Along the door jambs is evidence of square and circular rosettes enclosed within dotted squares. There is no niche in the central rähas for the Pārsvadevatās nor their outer walls are decorated with motifs. In plan, the other ruined temples appear to have smaller dimensions. No trace of the porch or Jagamohana is visible in front of these extant temples.
At a little distance to this place is another much ruined basement of a shrine containing the figure of a Tirthankara. From its present condition nothing can be made out as regards to its ground plan.
At Kachela, the Jaina temple originally some thirty feet high and ten feet broad as reported by G. Ramdas19 is now only available to an extent of some seven or eight feet high with two Jaina relics within the sanctum. There is no trace of the porch in its front. The lower part of this shrine do not show any projection in the outer walls. In and around the open space in front one can find large number of dressed stones and parts of the āmalaka sila lying scattered. The sanctum of the dilapidated temple is locally known as asthāna mandapa. The whole complex is picturesquely located at the foot of a hillock known as Deo Donger. The temple was built in stone.
The village B. Singpur appears to have been a major centre of Jaina religion. Numerous Jaina images are under worship inside thatched houses and the Jagannātha and Siva temples of the place. The site is located exactly in the type of its counterparts at places like Kachela and Suai of the same district. It can well be presumed that many of the earlier shrines built for the Jaina divinities were subsequently converted to Brahmanical temples.
In Orissa there are several instances of Jaina chaumukhas available, containing within their niches figures of standing Jaina Tirthankaras. The one available at Badasai is having a square base. Its būda (lower part of this miniature shrine) is also shaped in square from. Its superstructure is designed in several tiers as in the pidha temples or khākhară mundis of Orissan temple design. The crowning elements above beki consist of the usual amalaka, khapuri and the kalasa. The two chaumukhas (Fig. 73) found preserved in the Jaina temple at Cuttack also envisage the same style. Two more chaumukhas were also brought to the Orissa State Museum, one from a place known as Manikchak near Jaleswara (Fig. 97) of Balasore district and the other from Badacharpoi (Fig. 76) of Jajpur area of Cuttack district. The one, brought from Manikchak is designed in the shape of a pidha temple. It has five tiers and the base has two mouldings. Dopichha lions seen, supporting the crowning elements being placed on the vişama of the superstructure at each corner. The individual niches meant for the Tirthankaras are in oval shapes with pinnacles at their tops. The mastaka consists of the āmalaka, khapuri and the pinnacle in the pattern of a lotus bud. The chaumukha collected from Badacharpoi is a departure from the conventional pidha order. The superstructure of this chaumukha
19. JAHRAS, Vol. VI, pp. 8-14.
