Jinamanjari 2000 09 No 22

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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These recesses alternating with buttresses have the usual motifs of erotic couples which became an essential feature of the Kalachuri temples from the 11th C.E. onwards in the Dahala as well as South Kosala regions. Ceratin mouldings on jangha have figures of yaksas and Jinas. No less than twenty-one figures of yaksas appear. The vyala figures so commonly used everywhere are conspicuously absent with the exception of a lone vyala figure occupying a recess on the south face of the temple. The sikhara of the temple is a bhumija type with the usual latas rising from bhadra; the latas have on them a series of panels containing Jina figures in a group of two or more. Stylistically the decorative images do not show the contortion of limbs, a feature which otherwise is predominant in this region.
Stylistic Variations
In the period following the Guptas, Central Indian region indicates a very definite idiom of style in sculptures, derived from the classical mannerism mainly of the Gupta-Vakataka tradition of the North and of the Deccan. In Dahala the images from Namndchand (Panna district) and Sagar provide stylistic indices to the evolution of modes and mannerism in sculptural art of the transitional phase. Transformation of classical idiom into medieval has reference in the regions of Central India - namely the Dahala and the South Kosala," respectively under the patronage of the Kalachuris and the Panduvamsis. The South Kosala idiom has a greater sophistication artistry and a concerted historical tradition. The inscriptions of the Sarabhapuriyas,15 Pandus, and Nalas17 indicate the important position it occupied following the dissolution of the Guptas and the Vakatakas. The art idiom of the region thus underwent a change.
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In Dahala region, the predominant idiom of sculptural style has its epicentres and the spread tends to indicate simple decoration unencumbered with profuse ornamental features of parikara. In the anthropomorphic form of the distinctive features in images reflect an oval face, a simple hair style or crown wherever found, and a short almost squatting proportions devoid of any exaggerated lateralism. The Jina images at Bina-Barha indicate these features rather emphatically. These forms may reflect 9th C.E. features of the region. The Jina images from Bilhari and Kalitalai also belong to this tradition; stylistically marking various stages of sculptural development during the period extending from 10th through 11th C.E. They indicate a style in which figures are elongated, torso triangular instead of square, resting on thin waist, and feet which are sometimes columnar. The whole standing posture has an elegance attenuated by the bhanga on the main
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