________________
monuments were not described chronologically, nor were they classified even according to their architectural forms.
A systematic study of the monuments in their chronological sequence, with special reference to their classification according to their architectural forms, was initiated by Dr. H. D. Sankalia in his Archaeology of Gujarat published in 1941. But as architecture formed one of several sections of his work, it received but a summary treatment resulting into an outline account of the architectural features of the monuments. Recent explorations and excavations have brought to light a number of more architectural monuments left unnoticed hitherto or their lower portions buried below the ground level and thrown ample light on some monuments that were noticed cursorily and described vaguely.
Hence a detailed and upto-date historical survey of the architectural monuments of Gujarat is a long-felt desideratum. This work aims at presenting a critical study of a large group of those monuments confining its scope to structural temples. Herein I have tried not only to put forth the account of all the structural temples that are noticed and described in works published hitherto, but also to incorporate information available from epigraphic and literary sources.
I have also visited and described some temples that were found either unnoticed entirely or noticed cursorily. The historical survey of the structural temples, presented here, thus gives an exhaustive and uptodate treatment of the monuments of the successive periods.
In addition to the survey of the temples a detailed study of their individual components in relation to the architectural canons discerned in them is also a desideratum in the study of these monuments. The architectural features discerned in the treatment of the various parts of the different temples are noticed in detail and an attempt is made to trace their relation with the works that apply to them to the largest extent.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
