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Faina Temples of Western India
V.S. 1211 (1154 A.D.).59 According to the Prabha- 1221 (1164 A.D.).81 That the temple was built vakacarita, however, the temple was restored by about this time may also be inferred from the fact Vāgbhata in V. S. 1213 (1156 A.D.) and its conse that the Prabandhas attribute its construction to cration was performed by Hemacandra.co
Caulukya Kumārapāla (circa 1143-1172 A.D.).62 Architecturally, this temple bears closest resem- Burgess has suggested that the Sikhara of this blance to the Ajitanātha temple at Taranga built temple is of the usual style of the Gujarat temples by Kumärapäla in 1164 A.D. The importance of and belongs to the 16th or a later century88 this temple lies in that it probably anticipates the
Sankalia opines that the temple does not retain
Santalia nince that the to Ajitanātha temple which is the grandest Jaina much of the
much of the Caulukyan remains, except perhaps temple of our age. This may be clearly seen from the plan of the temple, 04 He further suggests the following features :
that the Sikhara is not an old one, for the photo1. Both these temples are erected on a grand plan graph published by Burgess does not show the and appears to be a royal erection.
caitya-window ornament clearly; mere shape is not 2. Unlike the earlier temples it displays seven
a sure guide.85 Saraswati, however, points out members in the vedibandha of the sanctum, the
that the temple, in spite of the restoration carried additional member being the ratnapattika placed
out in the time of Akbar, seems to have retained above the mañcika (Fig. 68); this moulding is
its original form and design to a very great
extent.66 In fact, Saraswati is justified in his also noticed at the same position in the Ajitanātha temple but is followed by a narapafika.
statement, for the temple retains its original
character. The reason why the earlier authorities 3. The two temples also agree in having a square
ascribed it a later date is that the entire Sikhara had fluted bharaṇi clasped by drooping foliage above
been covered with a thick coat of white lime during the jangha of the sanctum, although the genera
subsequent restoration. But now it is exposed to lly accepted form of the bharaṇi during the
view and shows the lattice ornament of caitya-winperiod is the round one.
dow (Fig. 72), which, as rightly pointed by Dhaky, 67 4. The bhadra niches of the sanctum are enclosed is of the usual 12th century type.
by a carved balustrade (Fig. 69); the bhadras in the Ajitanātha temple, however, carry balconied
On plan and in design it is very similar to the window enclosed by more ornate balustrade. Neminātha temple at Girnar (cf. Text Figs. 4 on 5. Like the Ajitanātha temple it also has a sapta.
page 147 and Text Fig. 7 on page 159), but it is loftier
in conception and more elaborate in decoration. fakha door frame in the gūdhamandapa.
Thus, like the Neminātha temple, it is a sandhara6. Its wall sculptures also approximate to those prāsāda consisting of a mālaprāsada, a gìdhamandapa
seen in the Ajitanātha temple, but they still arranged diagonally to the malaprāsāda, and show poise and are not as angular as those
a mukhamandapa. Its mālaprāsāda resembles the found in the latter temple (cf. Figs. 71 and 78). Neminātha temple in the general arrangement of
These features. some of which occur for the the buttresses, but here the konikas are prominent first time in this temple and some show change and and gradually diminish in the pitha, and the advancement on the earlier temples, apparently balustrade of the balconied window on the bhadras indicate that this temple is the precursor in plan is elaborately carved. The two temples also agree in and ornamentation of the Ajitanātha temple at showing almost the same set of mouldings in the Taranga, and the date 1154 or 1156 A.D. provided pitha and mandovara of the sanctum, but the Ajitaby the literary tradition fits in well with the archi- nätha temple displays some minor mouldings in the tectural and sculptural peculiarities.
pitha and two additional ones in the mandovara,
namely a ratnapattikā on the top of the vedibandha AJITANATHA TEMPLE AT TARANGA
and a square fluted bharaṇi clasped by drooping From the Viravanšavali we learn that the image foliage above the jangha--these two mouldings bring of Ajitanätha at Taranga was consecrated in V.S. it closer to the Adinātha temple at Shatrunjaya,
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