Jaina Shrines In India

Author(s): O P Tandon
Publisher: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Vovernment of India

Page 35

III.
Central India
THE earliest temple remains of Jaina architecture found in Central India are those which have been brought to light in the Vidisa district, particularly at Durjanpur. Images of Tirthankaras bearing inscription on their pedestals and in some cases with winged lions and dharmachakra symbols have given substance to the identification of the site as an old Jaina shrine. The Jaina images which have been found there, are not only important from the standpoint of Jaina iconography but they speak of a general iconographic embellishment characteristic of the Gupta period. According to an inscription, several of these images had been ordered to be made by Maharajadhiraja Ramagupta on the advice of Chelu-kshamana who belonged to the Digambara sect.
In one of the Udayagiri caves (cave 20), is found an inscription of the time of Kumaragupta I (A.D. 426) which mentions the making of an image of Parsvanatha. The sculpture is lost but the shrine is there in ruins. In the same way, a hill site, Sira Pahadi, near Nachna, famous for its Siva temple of the Gupta period, contains a group of Jaina sculptures which must have adorned a Jaina temple, contemporary of the Siva shrine of the Gupta period. The Yakshas and the Gandharvas figure prominently in the icons which lie scattered in the Sondani and Aihole regions known for its Jaina associations. It is possible that Sira-Pahadi near Nachna represented a Jaina centre in the proximity of the Brahmanical centre at the same place. Some remarkable Jina images were carried by Joanna Williams from Nachna to Panna. There was a Jaina settlement at
Deogarh in the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. A detailed study of Deogarh was made by Klaus Bruhn. Similar images have been found at Gwalior. There are two rock-cut reliefs of the late Gupta period which presage a temple area where these images were first noticed.
A continued belt of Jaina sculptural art is found in the vicinity of Gwalior. The same kind of images of Tirthankaras Yakshas and Yakshis have been found at Kundalpur, Pithaora (Satna), Jabalpur, Tewar, Tewar, Rajanpur-Khinkhini, Gandhawal (Dewas) in Malwa. The Gwalior fort itself is in possession of a huge stone image of the Tomara period. The Ambika Yakshi and her consort are found represented among the images which recall the Buddhist Panchika and Hariti figures of the Kushana and Gupta periods.
Badhoh in Vidisa is an early medieval site of the Pratihara period which has traces of Jaina idiom, although the site is Brahmanical. In the same district there is a more famous site at Gyaraspur which contains the widely known Maladevi temple (Pl. III). It is an excellent specimen of Pratihara architecture. Its sanctum pancharatha on plan, crowned by a curvilinear sikhara of the nagara type. The temple contains besides the Jaina Tirthankaras and Yaksha figures, an image of four-armed Saraswati holding the vina. There is also another image of the same goddess holding lotus, book and water-vessel. The remarkable iconography adds grace to the art of the Maladevi temple.
Happily, there exists a sequential group of temples at Deogarh. This complex has a series of thirty-one Jaina temples which