Jaina Tirthas in India and Their Architecture

Author(s): Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab

Page 10

FOREWORD IN the course of the last two thousand years many Jaina scholars, I devotees of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, have made a distinct contribution enriching Indian literature by their works written on diverse subjects in many Indian languages like Sanskrit, Prākrit, Apabhrarsa and the like, and have in a peculiar manner incessantly helped to educate the people eager for knowledge. In the same way Jaina millionaires, worshippers of the goddess of Wealth, have constructed in many Indian regions, cities, villages, hills and forests, varieties of stūpas, pillars, temples, monasteries and other religious establishments and have thus left an abundance of architectural relics which form their unique contribution to the field of Indian Architecure and have spared no amount of money in erecting spacious structures which enshrined images for worship for the benefit of the pious Jaina congregation. Though the greater part of the Jaina architecture has been damaged in the course of the Ruthless Time and through the cruel foreign iconoclasts, what little remains of it at present is by itself even in its present form matchless. It is a difficult task to count these Jaina sculptures and monuments and to properly evaluate them. These architectural remains are a thousand times more valuable than the wealth possessed by all the Jainas in India. These Jaina architectural relics are a set of most precious ornaments of the Indian Arts, Culture and Opulence. They constitute a national heritage of the whole of India. It should be the earnest desire of not only the Jainas but of every Indian to study this rich architectural collection.
It is the practice in many occidental countries to publish guides and picture-albums introducing such architectural national heritage, printed with an attractive get-up. Such photo-albums are usually accompanished by descriptive labels. In India such attempts have been sporadic. It is true that illustrated descriptions of such monumental structures are given in books published on such subjects by the Archaeological Survey of India as also in its Annual Reports. Their prohibitive prices and unwieldy size have made them unserviceable to the layman. Many years ago a European Company had published an attractive photo-album about Mt. Shatrunjaya. I am not aware of a similar publication which might have appeared after it.