Book Title: Tulsi Prajna 1997 04
Author(s): Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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Page 195
________________ TULSI-PRAJNĀ instructions to the sculptors. Sanskrit words in Kawi writing were intended for native craftsmen. 20 All in all, Barabudar is indeed an extraordinary monument, in its unusual form, its majestic conception, the vast quantity of subjects represented on its reliefs, in fact, in every respect it is unique. E. B. Havell, the famous art critic, praises the naturalness, vigour and grace of it. He writes "The Barābudur sculptors have known how to convey the essence of Truth as it is found in Nature without obtruding their own personality, or relying on any of the common tricks of their craft. Their art, used only in service of truth and religion has made their hands the obedient tools of a heaven-sent inspiration; and their unique power of realising this, with a depth and sincerity unsurpassed in the art of any land or in any epoch, gives them a right to rank among the greatest of the symbolists in the whole history of Art." Temple of Ananda As stated above, Tribhuvanaditya-Dharmaraja designed and built the famous temple of Ananda. It occupics the centre of a spacious courtyard of pagan in Burma, which is 564 ft. square. The main temple, made of bricks is also square in plan, each side measuring 175 ft. A large gabled porch, 57 ft. long, projects from the centre of each face of this square, so that the total length of the temple, from end to end, on every side is nearly 290 ft. In the interior the centre is occupied by a cubical mass of brickworks, with deep niche on each side, containing a colossal standing Buddha image 31 ft. in height above the throne which itself is about 8 ft. high. The central mass is surrounded by two parallel corridors, with cross passages for communication between the porch and the Buddha image on each side. Externally, the walls of the temple, 39 ft. high, are crowned with a battlemented parapet having a ringed pagoda at each corner. Above the parapet rise in succession the two roofs over the two parallel corridors below, each having a curvilinear outline and an elongated Stupa at the corners and a dormer-window in initation of the porches at the centre. And above these two roofs are four receding narrow terraces which serve as the basement of a Sikhara crowned by a Stupa with an elongated bell-shaped dome and a tapering iron htl as its final. Each of the receding stages has the figure of a lion at the corners and small imitation porch openings in the centre. Apart from the graceful proportions and the symmetry of design, Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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