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13. JAINISM AND OTHER FAITHS
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The Un group of temple has been assigned to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Here we have a large Jaina temple, Chaubara Dera No. 2, 'which in spite of the loss of its sikhara still remains one of the most beautiful monuments at Un.' The building has a very large porch in front of the manḍapa. The second Jaina temple at Un is very well-preserved and popularly known as Goaleśvara. The floor of the garbhagṛha is about ten feet lower than that of the manḍapa, and one has to descend a series of steps. Inside the sanctum stand three huge Digambara Jaina images, one of which measures twelve and a half feet in height. The images bear short inscriptions which give 1206 A. D. as the date of their dedication. Several other large Jaina images have been found at Un, one of which bears the date 1125 or 1135 A. D.1
Jaina religious edifices are also found in close proximity to the island of Mandhātā in the Narmada, in the Nimar District of Central Provinces. 'On the island itself, every temple is dedicated to Siva or his associate deities; but the north bank of the river opposite, in addition to Śivaite ruins, contains several old structures devoted to Visņu, and a whole group of Jaina temples.' The Jaina temples stand on an elevation overlooking, but a little retired from the river. The largest building raised on a plinth of basalt blocks five feet high was perhaps a monastery. It consisted of a quadrangle 53 feet by 43 feet, surrounded by four rows of pillars about 10 feet high. The eastern wall is still complete, decorated with geometrical figures rudely carved in yellow sandstone. On each side of the doorway is a figure carved on slabs about 2 feet high, with Sivaite and Jaina emblems curiously intermixed. To the north stood the temple proper, built in a pyramidal shape, with numerous smaller spires. The porch is still erect, but the shrine has been buried beneath the ruins of the dome. The third building was a smaller temple raised on a pyramid of basalt blocks about 25 feet high.'
Interesting sidelight on Śaiva-Jaina relations is provided by the religious history of Mount Abu, which was an early and famous seat of Saiva worship. The Abu region was subjected by Bhima I of Gujarat early in the second quarter of the eleventh century A. D.; and the Jaina Vimala Saha, the first great exponent of marble architecture in India, was sent out as the governor of Abu. It appears that Jaina religious edifices had not existed on the sacred mountain before his time. The magnificent marble temple of Adinatha was built at Delwara (Devalwada) on Mount Abu by Vimala Saha in
1 Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, 1919, pp. 62-61.
2
Imperial Gazelleer of India, Vol. IX, p. 296,
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2
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