Book Title: World Of Jainism
Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

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Page 104
________________ 98 THE ORIENT carved on it, dates from the Gupta period and is still in Situ at Kahaun in Uttar Pradesh. Of the post Gupta and early mediaeval periods, a large number of beautiful temples, sculptures, rock-out reliefs, and bronzes exist in various states of India. Amongst such early shrines, the Meguti Temple at Aihole, Karnataka, dates from early seventh century A.D. There are, besides, two Jaina caves at Aihole which are assignable to the seventh and eight centuries. Of c. ninth century, the Maladevi temple at Gyaraspur in Madhya Pradesh is especially noteworthy not only for its beautiful sculptures and iconography, but also for its architecture, as a beautiful example of Northern Indian sikhara temple. Earlier by about a century are two temples, one at Osia (Rajasthan) and another at Deogadh Fort (near Lalitpur and Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh) which are equally interesting for their architecture and sculpture. Ranging from ninth to tenth centuries are a group of about four caves at Ellora which have not only some beautiful reliefs of the scenes of austerities practised by Parsvanatha and Bahubali, and figures of Tirthankaras, the Šarvanubhuti yaksha and the yakshini Ambika (formerly wrongly called Indra and Indrani) but also have several paintings on their ceilings which are an important landmark in the history of painting in India. Of about this age c. ninth century, we also have some exquisite examples of mural paintings in the Jaina cave at Sittannavasal in Tamil Nadu. From tenth century onwards the Jaina contribution to Indian art is so rich and varied that it is impossible to refer to it in some detail in such a brief survey. Mention may, however, be made of some noteworthy groups of temples at Deogadh Fort, Khajuraho, Chanderi and Un, in Madhya Pradesh, Sravana Belgola, Humca, Karkal, Mudabidri in Karnataka, the templecomplex at Tiruparuttikunram (Jina-Kanchi) in Tamil Nadu, the Dilwara temples on Mt. Abu in Rajasthan, the Kumbharia temples near Abu, and the groups of temples at Satrunjaya and Girnar in Gujarat and some individual temples like the tenth century Sitalanatha temple at Zhalawad and the Mahavira temple at Ghanerao in Rajasthan, the Navamuni and Barabhuji caves at Khandagiri in Orissa, the Nemi-Jinalaya at Tirumalai in Tamil Nadu, a few temples at Lakkundi, Lakshmeshwar, Jinanathapuram, Venur etc., in Karnataka, and so on. A large member of beautiful Jaina sculptures and bronzes from various sites are preserved in the museums at Calcutta, Lucknow, Patna (Figs. 13-21), Mathura, Allahabad, Baroda (Figs. 3 & 10), Bombay (Figs. 11 & 12), Mysore, Madras, Hyderabad, Bhuvanesvara, Nagpur, Gwalior etc., in India, and in the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Zurich Museum, Switzerland, the museums at Cleveland, Los Angels, Kansas City, San Francisco, etc. in the U.S.A. and in a number of private collections in India and abroad.

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