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Their Temples and Sacred Places : 69 languages, like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, etc. are spoken.. In some regions, different other forms have been adopted. They are either a blending of the two main styles or they have a specific shape like, for example, those called "hoysala" and those said "of Orissa".
The sanctuaries (mandir) in “nāgara" style are generally made up of three parts: a monumental entrance door or a decorated arch (torana), a hall with many pillars used as a nave (maṇḍapa), sometimes preceded by a half-mandapa (ardhamaṇḍapa), and a choir (garbhagṛha) with, in its centre, a great statue of the Tirthankara to whom the temple is dedicated. Around the temple or in separated recesses there are often images of others Tīrthankara and of various deities we have already made mention. Often there is also a channel of "pradakṣiņā” in the choir, to allow adepts to do their three circumambulations of the main statue during their "pūjā". A high sugar-loaf tower (śikhara), with straight or curved edges, ending in a pinnacle, a herring top and an apex, covers normally these sanctuaries. Sometimes, they also have side wings that give them a cross-like shape, with four entrances and a statue with four faces looking in the four directions. It is possible even to see, at the Victoria and Albert Museum" in London, an extremely rare image of Candraprabha (the 8th Tirthankara) with seven heads. It would represent the seven applications of the Jain "syadvada" tenet.
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The "nagara" temples are the most beautiful, with splendid outside decorations, inner sculptures and chisels of an extraordinary fineness, ceilings with wonderful hanging features and unequalled artistic refinements.
The "drävida" temples, often called "basadi", are much larger than the "nagara" ones and they have more various shapes. They are generally surrounded by walls and composed of several structures erected at different dates. Amidst them, there often is an open courtyard (prākāram) and a pillar gallery with recesses that constitute many little chapels (caitya). The main sanctuary has either a very short spire or a dome. Included in the surrounding walls are different towers (gopuram) most of the time very high, with rectangular lower parts going more and more thin and a flat roof. Some of them are
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