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pushed the technique for constructing such a structure to extremes, with overlapping stone slabs and means of support which has allowed the structure to stand for many centuries, and which is something of a puzzle to modern architects. Mount Abu was already the site of a temple erected two hundred years earlier by Vimala Shah, a minister of the king of Gujarat. It is said that he built it as a penance for the bloodshed when he was sent as a military commander to quell a rebellion (Vaid 1980: p.326). The outstanding feature of the Mount Abu temples is the extraordinary intricacy of the almost transparent marble carving. Practically every surface and every structural detail is covered with figures and delicate tracery. The architecture and decoration of this temple is so outstanding that some consider it to be the eighth wonder of the world.
Plate 66 Interior of the Delwara temple, Rajasthan
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The installation ceremony for the Jain Centre at Leicester, in the United Kingdom, took place in 1988. It is a unique institution, a symbol of Jain unity, and provides a place of worship and study for all sects of Jainism. It has forty-four hand-carved pillars, a dome and ceilings, mirrored walls, stained glass windows, intricately designed mosaics made with numerous coloured pieces of glass for the smaller shrines, and for the first floor foyer, a marble frontage, a spacious hall, an auditorium, a library, a beautiful Jain educational museum and other facilities. It is an example of a unifying process, and has become a major tourist attraction in Leicester and a place of pilgrimage for Jains, perhaps due to some of its features being reminiscent of the intricate carvings of temples at Delwara and Ranakpur.
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