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Description of Plates
143
The śāntinātha Temple (Ādinātha Phase II)
77. Taking leave of the Mahāvīra temple, we enter the chronologically next
building, the sāntinātha temple. The sikhara of the mülaprāsāda here is shapely but the execution of its jāla is not perfect. The portion from the skandha-patta upwards, including the āmalasāraka, belongs to the restoration period.
78.
The corner view of the Anekāndaka sikhara of a western Indian temple is seldom very appealing, and this Šāntinātha instance only endorses that feeling though, in compensation, it lays bare the fuller view of its constitution.
The Nābhicchanda ceiling of the gūdhamandapa of the śāntinātha temple loses its effect by the introduction of the two heavy layers of karnadardarikā and consequent omission of the kola course otherwise vital for a completed appearance, illustrated here for knowing its nature.
80. The devakulikā-khattakas on the gūdhamandapa wall falling in the trika are
slightly more advanced in form in this temple than those in the Mahāvīra temple, but are not so gorgeous as in the Delvādā temples.
81.
The four fully carved pillars of the saţcatuskya here enhances the splendour of this architectural component, although it looks less poetic than the Mahāvīra parallel where the trika has a projecting porch whose pillars dramatically participate in the formation of the rangamandapa's octagon.
32.
The view of the same satcatuskya from the corresponding north-east angle is as delightful as the one seen in the previous plate from the north-western standpoint.
83.
The exclusive view of the file of the four front and fully decorated columns of the șațcatuṣkya is very impressive, although the details leave out the gracefulness of carvings noticeable in the same type of pillars that are earlier by some six to ten decades in western Indian Brahmanical halls.
84.
The rear columns of the saţcatuskya are of the Miśraka class with girdles of carving confined to the upper half. They are effective by way of contrast to the fully decorated columns of the front row.
85.
The carved vedikā at the fronton of the stylobate (right side of the visitor's view) of the satcatuskya shows tolerably good decoration of the stylized
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