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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
SHRUTSAGAR
April-2016 Yaksas. The courtyard is entered through a front screen-wall with a stunted gopura-entrance. The lateral walls of the entranced open court have two smaller excavations of the type of a pillared mandapa on one side and an unfinished gallery on the other. They contain images of Pārsvanātha, Bāhubalī, Kubera, Ambikā, Sumatinātha, Mahāvīra and other Tirthańkaras. The figures of Pārsvanātha and Bāhubali are carved in two separate maņdapas facing each other, which have some suggestion possibly of their common deep austerities and renunciation. Bāhubali was not a Jina but merely a Kevalin and still he commanded deep respect like the Jinas only on account of his deep austerity (Sādhanā) and absolute renunciation (Tyāga).
The lower-storey of main excavation is unfinished and has a peculiar plan. It has a front verandāh with four pillars and four pilasters of the square type, one of which has a Tirthańkara figure carved with an inscription thereon. Beyond is a two-pillared āngana (courtyard) similar to the front verandāh leading through a vestibule to the shrine-cell at the rear? The shrine is well finished and contains a huge figure of seated Tirthankara possibly of Mahāvīra. There are two more Tirthańkara figures, one of them is of śāntinātha with deer cognizance. At the eastern or right end of verandāh is the stairway leading up to the upper storey.
The upper storey essentially consists of a central main hall, with two additional sanctuaries. The front verandāh has two composite pillars of the Kumbhāvallī-cum-recessed-kalasacapital type. Inside on the eastern wing are five small standing Jinas with figures of Kubera and Ambikā at either end? Larger and better-finished highly ornate and graceful figures of Kubera and Ambikā are however, to be seen at either end of the verandāh. These appear to be most popular Yakşa-Yakși at Ellorā and elsewhere whose images are carved with elegance, proportion and aesthetic appeal. The hall proper has 12 pillars of four different types, and on its lateral walls are excavated five compartments each, the central one larger than the flanking four and containing a seated Jina image. The other four enshrine similar Jina images. The principal shrine cut into the rear wall of the maņdapa is dedicated to Mahāvīra. The entrance
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