Svasti

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust

Page 80

Selected Jaina Tri-Kuta Monuments from Karnataka
6
K.M. SURESH
Karnataka has a rich temple culture and is well known for the erection of many hundreds of temples of various architectural styles belonging to different periods from 5th to 16th centuries. The temples or basadis were built at the instances of several kings of every ruling dynasty, their subordinates, merchants, devotees and individuals etc. The Jaina temples are commonly known as the basadi or basti and Jainas believed that the temple building was also a means to salvation and secured for the builders the delight of heaven in the next life. This accelerated the process of temple construction and gradually gave rise to several temple cities and Sravanabelgola, Halsi, Aihole, Dharward and many other places in Karnataka are fine witnesses to this spirit of Jaina devotion. The people attached great importance to temple worship; they performed almost all sacraments such as birth ceremony, investiture of the sacred thread and marriage before the Jinas in Jaina temples. Jinasena explains clearly the observation of these rites in the Indian temples.
The Jainas have always taken their due share in the development of art, culture and architecture. Both Buddhism and Jainism flourished at an equal state and a distinctive school of art and architecture had grown up. The special architectural characteristics peculiar to monuments dedicated to Jainism are many and are significant. In the Kuntaladesha i.e., Karnataka, the Adi-Gangas and the Adi-Kadambas had initiated an era of Jaina architecture. Aihole in Bagalkot district is an early cradle of Jaina architecture. Along with Aihole Badami Cave No.IV opened a glorious golden chapter in rock-cut architecture. Megudi is one of the early examples of structural shrine, of the flowering of the Chalukyan and Jaina art. The wealth of symbolism and mystical imagery in its vigorous style, wrought in hard stone, leaves an everlasting imprint. The Jains were the foremost patrons of religious architecture. They have profusely patronized craftsmen and artists. Many guilds of silpins, sculptors, worked for Jaina foundations. Jainism has produced special architectural and sculptural forms based on its regional tradition and mythological concepts. Through experiments and experience, the carvers had evolved some of the Jaina architectural and sculptural features.
The Jaina building activities not only accelerated considerably but also standardized in the age of Chalukyas of Badami sovereigns. It reached its zenith in the epoch of the Rashtrakutas and Chalukyas of Kalyana and witnessed culmination in the reign of