Jaina Monuments and Places First Class Importance

Author(s): T N Ramchandran
Publisher: Veer Shasan Sangh Calcutta

Page 79

CONCLUSION
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the Nemiśvaia temple at Karkal and in front of the Gummateśvara statue of the same places and at Venur, Guruvayankeri in South Kanaia district are specimens of the best architecture of the period standing for or symbolising Jaina cosomological concepts.
Structural temples are found every where, the types being mostly Dravida and in a few cases as at Hampi, in the Nāgara style of temple architecture. Noteworthy are the temples at Hēmakutam in Hampi, Ratnagiri in Anantapur district, Chipagiri in Bellary district, Danavulapadu in Cuddapah district, Tiruparutukunaram in Chingleput district, Mudabidii, Chaturmukha temple at Karkal, Vēnur, Guruvayankeri in South Kanara district, Mettupudur in Coimbatore district, Singapalle in Ganjam district, and Tirumalai in North Arcot District.
Special and unique to Jainism are the pyramidal tombs that one can see at Mudabidri and Bastis such as the Kathale Basti, which is a hall, in the village of Hosala, South Kanara district.
Of especial interest are the Jaina memorial stones, most of them inscribed, and nisidis or epitaph stones, which (the latter) contain much historical information in their inscriptions and the best art of the time in the sculpture carved on them. A number of such nisidis from Penukonda, one of the vidyasthānas of South Indian Jainas, now constitute the Jaina Gallery of the Madras Museum. Space forbids me to multiply instances of Jaina vestiges. Of bronzes we have recovered quite a number, chiefly from South and North Kanara, Chingleput, Bellary and North Arcot districts and these are mostly of later periods. The truth seems to be that, as in Hindu temples, it was the custom to embellish every Jaina temple with a set of metal images (utsava vigrahas) to be carried out in procession during select festivals.