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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
there are, in one side 15 bull's-eye-windows, and in the wall 20 bull's-eye-windows, 35 statues in all. Counting the stores on all the four sides, and al the bull's-eye-windows of the walls, there are 140 statues in all. In each bull's-eye-window there are placed the gods and goddesses of each of the religious sects separately. In each bull's-eyewindow the gods and goddessess of different religious sects have been afforded a place. There are the idols showing the ten incarnations, along with the twenty-four forms of Visnu, while there are the idols some of the forms of Siva. On the other hand, the idols of the goddesses are seen to enjoy prominence.
In them, thesculptors have succeeded in carving the forms of the goddess as depicted in the Purānas. Moreover, the sculptures of Ganapati, Brahmā, and others have also become famous. The sculptures of the Yogini's are also placed by costructing the small umrella built on the Kunda.37
In the bull's-eye-window of the lower terrace, there is a beautiful and rare idol of Bakāsura. This idol, being located in the water, has been delapidated. In this sculpture, Krsna has been adorned with a diadem on the head, the wide-open eyes, ear-rings in the ears, and the lower garment. The long neck of Baka and in his beak are seen the seven cows. Krsna is found to be tearing off the beak forcibly by his two hands. 38
At the end of the above-mentioned six terrace one comes to a square of 22 feet, and in its middle there is a square well of 13 feet. the stones of the well are whilte. On it the name of Siddharāja has been carved. People come to this Kunda for the rite of offering water to the manes 0, for getting the head shaved. Here, a fair is held on the no-Moon day of the month of Bhadrapada.
In the south-west corner of Śihora city, in the middle of the river Gautamī, there is a Kunda caledhe Gautama-kunda. This Kunda might have been built of stone. The length of this Kunda lies from the south-east to the north-west, and its breadth lies from the south-west to the north-east. Water comes to the Kunda from the South, and through the West it flows away in the river. 33 Cānda Bāori-Kunda, Abaneri (Dist, Dausa)
Although this extraordianary site is located in a small village it was once a major centre of art and architecture a thousand years ago. "The sculptures of Abaneri are the best examples of Gurjar Pratihārī art. This flourishing town was ruined by the notorious Muhammad Ghaznavi in one of his invasions."34
In the old ruined town of Abaneri, is Cānda Bāorī, one of India's oldest and deepest wells; aesthetically, it's perhaps on of the most dramatic. Built in around 850 A.D. next to the temple of Harshad Mātā (11th cent.).
The Tank is in exceptionally good condition. It forms the shape of an inverted 'V'. The Tank comprises hundreds of zigzagging steps that run along three of its sides, steeply descending 14 visible divided by repeated sets of 7 steps per level. This forms
SOME UNIQUE STEP-WELLS AND TANKS OF GUJARAT AND RAJASTHAN
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