Some Early Jaina Temples in Western India

Author(s): M A Dhaky
Publisher: Z_Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_Mahotsav_Granth_Part_1_012002.pdf and Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_

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SOME EARLY JAINA TEMPLES IN WESTERN INDIA : 327
rangamanqapa (dancing hall)-the glory of the Jaina temples-had not yet materialized. For noticing further development in Jaina way of temple planning, we must turn to Varman.49
II MAHAVIRA TEMPLE, VARMAN
Varman, Brahmäna of the mediaeval epoch is today famous for its ruined temple of the Sun. To the Jainas in the Middle Ages it well-known as a seat of the Brahmāna gaccha and for the old sanctuary of Mahavira.
The temple, unfortunately, 'had suffered repeated renovation as well as damages. Two at least can be discerned on epigraphic evidences, one in 1186 and the other in 1390. The Mülapräsāda is original but relatively unpretentious and in elevation starts directly from the vedibandha. The ranga-mandapa, of no consequence, was added during the second renovation and restored more than once afterwards. The Bhramantikă once possessed the traditional twentyfour Devakulikās with colonnade. The cells have disappeared but the basement of the corridor is still discerned in north and south section. Some of the old pillars of these have been re-erected (Figs. 8 & 9). The eastern corridor possessed two samatala ceilings, one carved with Ambikā, the other-inscribed one-of similar workmanship is dated to 1186 and shows the figure of Gajalaksmi. Commenting on the latter, SUKTHANKAR averred that the original temple is probably not older than this sculpture.50 This is contrary to the facts revealed by the closer examination of the material in the temple. The mouldings of the Sanctum are certainly very old. The door frame mith its powerful rūpastambha is likewise old. The image of Mahavira (smaller one) is a fine example of the Mahā-Gurjara art of the late ninth century as ascertained by U. P. SHAH. The older pillars illustrated here, though smaller, are comparable in details and style to those in the Sun temple of the late ninth century in Varman itself.51
The importance of the Mahāvīra temple at Varman lies in its illustration of the earliest archaeological evidence for twenty-four Devakulikās which once it possessed contemporaneously with the Main
49 Literary sources speak of a Cauvisa jiņālaya founded sometime in
the ninth century at Denduānaka in Marumandala. 50 Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western
Circle', 1917, pp. 71-72. 51 Cf. DHAKY (1965), Fig. 2.