Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/60

JAINA ARCHITECTURE. BOOK V. only from the door, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the Jina to whom the temple is dedicated, in this instance Rishabhanath or Adinath. The cell, as in all other examples, terminates^ upwards in a jikhara, or pyramidal roof, 1 which in these Abu temples, however, are too low to be properly designated spires. To this, as in almost all instances, is attached a mandapa or closed hall, and in front of this a portico, generally of considerable extent, and in most examples surmounted by a dome resting on eight pillars, which forms indeed the distinguishing characteristic of the style, as well as its most beautiful feature. In this example the portico is composed of forty-eight free-standing pillars, which is by no means an unusual number ; and the whole is enclosed in an oblong courtyard, 128 ft. by 75 ft. inside, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of cells, as usual fifty-two in number, 2 with some extra chapels at the south-west corner ; these enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in Buddhist viharas. In this case, however, each cell, instead of being the residence of a monk, is occupied by one of those cross-legged images of Jinas which belong alike to Buddhism and Jainism, and between which the untaught find it difficult to distinguish. In the south-west corner of the court, on a slightly higher level, is a small early temple of Amba 3 which is somewhat out of alignment with the rest, and has apparently fixed the limit of the enclosure ; there is also a suspicion that the central shrine, built of stone not marble may be of earlier date than the nth century. 4 In other religions there may be a great number of separate similar chapels attached to one building, but in no other would fifty-two be found, as in this example, or that surrounding the temple of Neminath at Girnar (Woodcut No. 280), each containing an image of a Tirthankara, and all so nearly identical as to be almost undistinguishable. With the Jains it seems to be thought the most important point that the Jinas or saints are honoured by the number of their images, and that each principal image should be provided with a separate abode. In other examples, however, it is only a separate niche. On some Jaina monuments the images of the Tirthankaras are repeated 1 See ante, vol. i. p. 322. 2 ' Archaeological Survey of Western India,' vol. ix. pp. 99, 100. 3 Amba is a name of Durga, and also of the Yakshini or familiar devi of Nemi- n&tha, the 22nd Tirthankara, to whom Tejahpala's temple is dedicated. A large black image of Neminath in an adjoining shrine might suggest that this temple was first dedicated to that Jina. Amba figures largely in Jaina mythology ; and her Hindu temple at Ambaji, 15 miles north-east from Danta, is visited by crowds of Jaina pilgrims. 4 Many of the short inscriptions on the cell doors and the images in them are dated a century later than the erection by Vimala,