Jaina Temples of West Bengal

Author(s): D R Das
Publisher: Z_Nirgrantha_1_022701.pdf and Nirgrantha_2_022702.pdf and Nirgrantha_3_022703.pdf

Page 19

Vol. III, 1997-2002
Jaina Temples of....
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and the pilasters on the kanikas, with that of the Temple No. 16 at Telkupi (Purulia District)". The latter temple has to be dated not earlier than the 11th century A. D. on account of the presence of round bhümi-amalakas in its gandi. If the temple at Ambikānagar was similarly adorned with round bhumi-āmalakas, it should also be dated after the tenth century A. D. The absence of details forbid the ascription of any specific date to the brick temple at Pakbirra. Its seemingly perpendicular rise of the gandi, however, favours a date not before the 11th century. Indeed none of the brick temples in this region appears earlier than of the 11th century date. As the three temples at the sites of Deoli, Harmashra, and Deulbhira and the ruined temple at Charra present similar architectural features, they should belong to the same period. In the three extant examples, the ratio of the extent of the garbhagyha and the height of the deula is around 1 to 5.5. All of them simulate a pancaratha plan. The baranda in each temple has three elements which are not found in the temples so far discussed. The lion on the sukanāsa-pediment of the temple at Deulbhira is also a new introduction. As shown by the latter and the temple at Harmashra, the acceptance of laterite as the sole building material marks a departure from the practice of using sandstone for the same purpose. In Orissa lion on the façade is unknown before the 11th century, a 1:5.5 ratio of the length of the garbhagrha and the height of the deula becomes common since the 12th century and laterite as the principal material for constructing a temple is not favoured before the 13th century. It, therefore, may be reasonable to assign these four temples after the 11th century. The temple at Balihati seems the latest in the series of Jaina temples in West Bengal. The spacing of its pābhāga with miniature shrines is a phenomenon absent from preMuslim temples. Its construction with laterite blocks is another late feature. The shape and design of the window in the wall of the ambulatory connects this temple with very late temples of Orissa. On the other hand, the provision of a staircase in the thickness of the wall associates it with the late medieval ratna temples of Bengal. Probably the ambulatory around its sanctum cella anticipates the covered verandah on the three sides of the ratna temples of late medieval Bengal. Under the circumstances, a not earlier than the 14th century date for the temple at Balihati seems very likely.
In view of what so far has been said, the assertion that 'Jainism was a spent force in Bengal from the eighth century onwards"40 needs to be modified. The Chotanagpur belt comprising the districts of Purulia, Bankura and parts of Burdwan and Midnapore in West Bengal, Singhbhum, Ranchi and Dhanbad in Bihar and Mayurbhanj in Orissa remained a stronghold of the Jainas well after the 8th century. That Jainism did not disappear from other parts of Bengal during the Pāla-Sena epoch is proven by the discovery of the 10th-12th century images of Jaina divinities from both northern and southern Bengal" Jainism in Bengal probably started to decline in consequence of the