Osiaji Mahavira Temple

Author(s): Rabindra J Vasavada
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 23

21
and also new pillars to display tendencies of simplification through its flat roof and pillars. These elements also attempt a hybrid formation, where old parts are mixed with the new ones and this is where the differences are noticed. The ground to floor relation also has been over-simplified. The earlier entrance hall in relation to temple floor and the street level had changing levels highlighting the experience of entering the temple through segregated levels. This is destroyed now and rationalized, may be due to increasing number of pilgrims. To a discreet visitor all these simplifications do sound disturbing as it is perceived as a major change in the basic typology of temple plan over a period of time, loosing the original richness. This also raises some pertinent questions about the authenticity and change and how these have to be studiously attempted in order to safeguard the basic idiom within which these temples have been built. The Mahavira Temple as originally built had an enclosure all around. The increased demands for ritualistic needs from ever increasing pilgrims must have necessitated the expansion of the old temple, which was possible only in the front hall. This in turn required additional re-organization of front periphery bordering the street which then can accommodate the hall in the entrance and also provide movement areas in front for large number of people visiting the shrine.
Change and continuity are best illustrated through Mahavira Temple at Osia. The way the community preserves the on going tradition and passes on to succeeding generations, display their commitment to religion. This urge also provides important patronage to building-crafts and architectural traditions, which is kept alive and evolving—though confined only to Temple arts. The unbroken worship and relevant renewals of temple institution thus become inseparable parts of the community's ethos and therefore, Mahavira Temple assumes greater importance as one of the most important Jaina religious institutions in Western India. Michael Meister points out that it is the institution and its changing cultural consensuses and conventions that constitute the monument going beyond its architectural forms. (Meister 1990, RES 1995).