Studies in Jaina Art

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 32

A BRIEF SURVEY OF JAINA ART IN THE NORTH
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is noteworthy.1 Practice of carving such pațas of the Maddona continued in the mediaeval period, such specimens being available at Päţan, Girnār, Abu, etc. but the Osiā plaque is the earliest yet discovered.
Quite a large number of Jaina bronzes ranging from c. 6th to inth centuries A, D, have been obtained in the Akoţā hoard. Two bronzes, one of Rşabhanātha with a Yaksa and Ambikā and the other of an unidentified Jina are especially noteworthy as they are installed by Jinabhadra gani Kşamāśramaņa--the first between c. 500-550 A. D., and the second between c. 550-600 A. D. 2 A beautiful figure of Sarasvati and other of a female chauri-bearer are illustrated in figs. 32-33.
Of special interest is the Makarabāi temple in a village of the same name, Io miles N. E. of Mahobā in U. P. It is in an excellent state of preservation and consists of three separate cells, one at the back of the mandapa and one each at the north and the south of it. The cult image in the sanctum is lost but the Jaina character of the temple is evidenced by figures of Jinas on its lintel. Though small, this shrine is of a unique type, different from the ornate Chandela temples, and though almost devoid of external wall sculptures, presents a beautiful appearance. 3
Another beautiful specimen, of about the end of the transitional period, is the so-called Ghanțai temple at Khajurāho, old Chhatrapur State, Central India. A little separated from the main group, it has attracted considerable attention on account of what may be called the Attic beauty of its constituent parts. This temple, of which only a cluster of about a dozen pillars, standing on a moulded plinth and supporting a flat roof, and a carved door-frame, remain in situ, must certainly have been a gem of its time, being the handiwork of most accomplished craftsmen of the age. One can still admire the elegance of its pillars, most gracefully proportioned, tall and slender shafts, octagonal below and circular above with intermediate girdles of delicate carving or the richness of its carved door-way.
The transitional period witnessed, in c. 8th century A.D., the introduction of the twenty-four yakşas and yakşiņis, as attendants of different Tīrthankaras. In its later stage, it showed the introduction of eight planets on two sides of a Tirthařkara or on the pedestal. The introduction of planets seems to have started in the Eastern School. In the west the planets were soon given a place on the pedestals of images of the Tirthankaras. In this period, the Jainas, especially the Digambaras, had strongholds in the whole of Central India while
1 Shah, U. P., in Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, IX, p. 48. 3 Shah, U. P., in Jaina Satyaprakāśa XVII, no. 4, pp. 86-91, figs. 1-4. 3 A.S.I., A.R. for 1925-26, p. 15, pl. ii.
Brown, Percy, op. cit., pp. 136 if, pl. lxxxii.