Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c35: Chapter XXVIII: The Temple-Cities of the Jains

Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c35

Language: English

Chapter XXVIII: The Temple-Cities of the Jains

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ALTHOUGH there is no style of architecture in India that can be referred to as Jain, the temples belonging to this religion show by their arrangements that they are neither Buddhist nor Brahmanical, but so designed as to conform to the ritual of the Jains. Mahavira, the last Jain leader, is generally regarded as the founder of the creed, but it is claimed that the same doctrine was propounded during countless ages by a succession of earlier teachers. There are twenty-four of these saints, known as Jinas or Tirthankars, literally "conquerors" or "leaders," and it is from the word "Jina" that the comparatively modern name of Jain is derived. These Jinas, or Tirthankars as they are more commonly called, having become deified, usually occupy similar high places in the Jain temple as the Hindu divinities do in theirs, and shrines are dedicated to them. And just as Jainism has not inaptly been defined as a theological mean between Buddhism and Brahmanism, progressing more or less parallel with these two creeds, so the architecture associated with each belief has also moved on parallel lines Where the followers of Buddhism and Brahmanism have resorted to the rock-cut form of expression, the Jains have likewise excavated their places of worship, and where these have produced the structural type of temple, so the Jains have built theirs. Whether quarried out of the rock or built of masonry, the general character of the Jain architecture has been very similar in style to that of the Buddhists and Hindus of the same period and the same region.

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In one respect however the Jains made a departure, when at some remote age, having appropriated certain "mountains of immortality" as sacred sites, they proceeded to erect on their summits a considerable aggregation of religious buildings, so that these formed what may be termed temple-cities. To use their own words they "ornamented these holy hills with a crown of eternal Arhat chaityas (tabernacles of saints) shining with the splendour of jewels." In spite of the known antiquity of these mountain sanctuaries few of the temples comprising them are earlier than the fifteenth century, and most are much later. Various causes have been responsible for the older buildings having been obliterated, one being the practice of the Jains themselves of pulling down their temples when decayed and erecting new ones in their places, many of the walls bearing evidences of this, as they reveal stones of previous structures having been built into them. Again, the creed during its long history has not been free from internal dissensions, an iconoclastic schism in the fifteenth century possibly being one of the factors responsible for few buildings having survived before this date. On the other hand the peculiarly militant appearance of some of these structural complexes as a whole implies that outside forces may at one time have subjected them to desecration and pillage, from a repetition of which they are now materially guarded. For, as they exist at present, these religious sites are surrounded by embattled walls, with their interiors divided up into *tuks* or wards, like the inner courts of fortified cities, the crenellated parapets being loop-holed and embrasured, each *tuk* having massive circular bastions at its angles, entry being obtained through strong gateways. It is a little incongruous to see projecting above this grim screen of defensive masonry a forest of graceful fanes belonging to so peaceful and humane a cult as that of the Jains. (Plate CXXI, Fig. 2).

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These temple-cities, or *tirthas* (places of pilgrimage), are laid out on no specific plan, the buildings being arranged on such level spaces as the contours of the hill naturally provide. In one or two instances they consist of several hundreds of edifices, but contain no human habitation, as except for an occasional watchman, they are at nighttime entirely deserted, the gods in their shrines being left to the protection of their own sanctity. Each *tirtha* represents centuries of devotion which found expression in temple building, and they form the central object of pilgrimages and festivals at frequent intervals. Although many of the temples may seem complicated in appearance, each is designed, as a rule, on the principles common to the religious architecture of the late mediæval period, the elaborations being due to such factors as the addition of numerous supplementary shrines, to the application of double stories, and to the practice of imposing pillared cloisters around all the larger examples. In the style of the individual buildings one variation found only in Jain temples is noticeable, and that is the frequent erection of a class of temple known as *chaumukh*, or "four-faced." This form of structure owes its shape to the particular character of the image it enshrines, as instead of a single figure facing one way, and therefore requiring only one entrance to the cella, the *chaumukh* is a quadruple image, or a group of four images, either of one Tirthankar, or of four different Tirthankars placed back to back so as to face the four cardinal points. Such a plan necessitated a shrine chamber with four doorways, a structural alteration which affected very considerably the design of the sanctuary, converting this into a cruciform compartment with an opening on each side. This again influenced the shape of the vimana as a whole, a circumstance of which the Jain builders took full advantage in their treatment of the exteriors of this temple type.

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Two of the most important of these temple-cities are on mountains in Kathiawar, one being on the heights of Satrunjaya and the other on those of Girnar. The largest of all is that of Satrunjaya, south of the town of Palitana, and occupying the twin summits of the mountains, two thousand feet above sea level. Crowning these two ridges each some three hundred and fifty yards long, the line of buildings, several hundreds in number, follows approximately the shape of a letter S, one group running along the curve of the northern ridge and another the southern with a connecting group on the saddle forming the loop between Out of this large number of shrines of various shapes and sizes, a characteristic example is the Chaumukh temple of Adinath standing within the Karalaravasi Tuk at the apex of the northern ridge. Built in A.D. 1618, on the site of a much earlier structure, it shows how the builders put into effect the plan of the "four-faced" shrine The cell chamber, which is twenty-three feet square, is provided with the four requisite entrances, that on the east side being connected in the usual manner by a doorway with the assembly hall in front. The three other openings have porches leading into the surrounding courtyard, while above each porch rises an elegant second story with balconied windows, a feature having a definitely secular appearance, the whole buttressed against the lower part of the spire In addition to this amplification of the vimana there is a range of exterior cells incorporated into its western walls and screened by a pillared verandah, a form of supplementary cloisters considerably enriching this portion of the structure. Although tending to produce the effect of one architectural element imposed on another, there is nevertheless a rich animation about this design which is commendable

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Dominating the opposite and southern ridge of Satrunjaya is another temple, not only typical of the style but celebrated for the antiquity of its foundation, as it occupies the most sacred site on the mountain, the *sanctum-sanctorum* of the *tirtha*. This is the Sri Adisvara which stands within the Vimalavasi Tuk, the present structure dating from A.D. 1530, but it fills the place of a much older temple erected in A.D 960, and there was probably another still earlier Although simpler in plan than the previous example, as it enshrines only one cella, its architectural elevation, which is notably ornate, has distinctly good features. This specially applies to the eastern frontage with its pillared portico and upper story, the semi-circular arches of each being cusped and braced with the characteristic convoluted strut. Over the mandapa extends a low pitched roof, moulded in lines resembling tiles, with figures of dragons along the ridges breaking the skyline like crockets on a Gothic gable. As a whole this building is however not unified, it is a combination of parts each good in itself, but the process of assembling has not been perfectly accomplished.

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The other famous temple-city of Kathiawar, that on the hill of Girnar near the historic town of Junagadh (Uparkot), is situated on the top of a great cliff some six hundred feet below the actual summit, but still nearly three thousand feet above sea level. Although not so numerous a collection of shrines as those on Satrunjaya, from which it is distant barely a hundred miles, a few of its buildings are of an earlier date. As an instance of this, the largest of the Girnar group, the temple of Neminatha, bearing an inscription indicating that it was restored in the 13th century, is probably not very different in its general appearance from what it was when first built about a century before. More recent renovations may perhaps have robbed it of some of its original character, but it is still a building of marked size and distinction. It is possible to obtain a comprehensive view of this temple from a point of the hill above it, the entire scheme depicting a very carefully designed plan. Standing within a quadrangular courtyard measuring 190 feet by 130, it is surrounded by a range of pillared cloisters containing over seventy cells. The temple building is placed towards the western end of this enclosure leaving a wide sweep of pavement in front to add dignity to its proportions, the structure itself having a plan of 120 feet long and 60 feet wide. The mandapa is a handsome hall 43 feet square with an open space in the centre constituting the nave, around which is a colonnade of twenty-two pillars forming the aisles. It is however in the exterior elevation of the vimana that the early character of the temple may be detected, as this is composed of a grouping of turrets around the central tower on a system common in the temple architecture of western India of about the twelfth century.

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The manner in which the temple builders of these parts endeavoured to adapt their plans to the Jain observances is shown in another early building at Girnar, the temple of Vastupala Tejpala, so named because it was founded by those two famous ministers under the rulers of Gujarat, who, by their munificent patronage, gave such encouragement to the building art in the west of India during the first half of the thirteenth century. This temple is remarkable as it is a triple structure composed of three separate shrines, each leading out of one of the sides of a square central hall, the fourth side providing the entrance. As usual the shrine on the east is the principal sanctuary, as here in the cella is a statue of Mallinatha, the 19th Tirthankar, but the two lateral shrines contain Jain emblems of marked spiritual significance. Each of these side-chambers is in the form of a pillared hall, the centre, or nave of which is almost filled with a monument of solid masonry, called a *Samosan*, that on the north having a square base and called *Sumeru*, the fabled mountain of Meru, while that on the south is circular in plan and named *Sameta Sikhara*, referring to the sacred mount of Parasanath in Bihar. The lateral arrangement of this temple necessitated a broad frontage having three entrances, above which rise three shallow domes covering the central hall and its two side shrines. In working out this composition, the builders failed to produce any appearance of height, so that the general effect of the elevation is low and flattened although it contains passages which are well-proportioned and have no little architectural merit.

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There are several other sacred sites of the Jains, which appertain more or less to the temple-city plan but none of those is equal in architectural character to the two already described. At Sonagarh near Datia in Central India something of the kind has been conceived, as groups of temples in considerable numbers have been built on terraces on the hill side, most of them however of moderately recent date and in a style of architecture of a rather commonplace type, although the appearance of the whole is picturesque. The same may be said of two other sites, that at Kundalpur in the Damoh district of the Central Provinces, where there is a cluster of some fifty temples, and at Mukhtagiri near Gawalgarh in Berar. Parasanath, a hill in Bihar, has profoundly sacred associations although its temples have little but their sanctity to commend them. This short list does not profess to include all those high places where religious fervour found expression in the raising of temples and shrines ; there are other lofty and romantic sites where such buildings may be found, but most of these are important only from their religious aspect, as they consist of venerable but simple monuments, where the devout may perform the rite of *panchanya*, and thus "worship the mountains as the feet of Jina."

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Taken as a whole the architectural character of the buildings comprising these "holy cities" of the Jains is not of a particularly high order Yet consisting of such a large number, and their production extending over a very considerable space of time, they cannot fail to be instructive. But the information they convey is not inspiring, their cold systematic compositions making little appeal. There is a falling away of power in these structures, some of it undoubtedly due to the relatively late period in which many of them were erected, when the first vigour of the style had passed Compare any of the temples of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries pulsating with a fresh vitality, with those of the later style, and it will at once become apparent that the art was growing nerveless and mannered, the dynamic movement of the one being in strong contrast with the static condition of the other. That something happened to divide the two phases is obvious, and that circumstance was the full force of the Islamic aggression which was experienced at this juncture. For some time the mind of the people was stunned by these subversive influences, and the buildings reflect not only the effect of the religious impact but also the socio-political conditions that then ensued. From this state the country partially recovered, but it was never the same. The old arts continued to be practised, but the spirit of them passed very largely and almost imperceptibly into the more vigorous conceptions of the new power.

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In addition to the temple-cities just described, there are other sacred sites, mostly on the western side of the country, on which the Jains have built temples of great size and considerable architectural importance, chief among these, and fully representative of the style, is the Chaumukh temple of Adinatha at Ranpur near Sadari, in Marwar, situated within the Godvad province of Jodhpur State. An inscription on a pillar states that one Depaka was the architect, producing the building to the order of a "devout worshipper of the Arhats," named Dharanaka in A.D. 1439. Some idea of the proportions and complexity of this temple may be gained when it is realized that it covers a space of over forty thousand square feet, an area corresponding approximately to that of Wadham College, Oxford, and that it consists of twenty-nine halls containing as many as four hundred and twenty pillars, the designs of no two of which, are alike. Such a large and extensive conception can hardly claim to be a unified whole, and as a matter of fact it resolves itself into a comprehensive structural scheme consisting of an orderly aggregation of shrines, symmetrically disposed around a larger one in the centre, the entire complex erected on a lofty plinth, and contained within a high and solid boundary wall. This wall surrounding a square of two hundred feet side, is in reality the main feature of the exterior, as it forms the chief elevational aspect, recalling at the same time those battlemented fortifications of the temple-cities, but in this instance treated more architecturally and also more pacifically. Not only does the wall with its massive substructure safeguard the sanctity of the shrines within, but it also emphasises by its almost unbroken circuit that desire for seclusion which seems essential to the devotional ceremonies of the Jains. In place however of the militant crenellations of the temple-city parapets, at Ranpur these take the form of light and graceful turrets, one above each of the sixty-six cells, or *bhamlīs*, attached to its inner face. Behind this outwork of pointed fanes rises an array of tall spires and rounded cupolas to produce a charmingly picturesque effect. Of the sikharas there are five, the largest and most prominent surmounting the central sanctuary, with each of the others over a corner shrine, while the cupolas are twenty in number, each forming the roof of a pillared hall. (Plate CXXIII).

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From the middle of three sides of the enclosing rectangle project the temple entrances, each a double storied portal of great elegance, that on the west being the largest, thus denoting the principal approach. Each of these entrances leads through a series of columned courts into the main halls of the temple proper. At first sight the interior appears to be a complicated labyrinth of courts and pillared halls, but its regular and balanced composition soon becomes evident. Reduced to simple terms it resolves itself into a temple within a temple, in other words a central sanctuary surrounded by a range of chapels and subsidiary shrines. The main temple, occupying the middle of the composition, is contained within a rectangular courtyard measuring 95 feet by 100 feet, which space it partially fills as it consists of a large hall standing on a plinth and graced with a hundred pillars. In the centre at the "crossing" or nave of this hall is the adytum, 25 feet square and with four entrances, its interior consisting of a cruciform chamber enshrining the *Chaumukh*, a quadruple image in white marble of Adinath, the first Tirthankar. The rectangular courtyard surrounding this main temple is open to the sky, but the four outer sides are enclosed by the range of supplementary courts referred to above. There are three of these open spaces along each side with a special sanctuary and cella known as the *Khunt-ra-mandar* at each angle, besides four other shrines one on each side of the north and south entrance halls. Such is a bare outline of the arrangements of this temple on its ground floor, but as it is in two stories, practically the whole of it is duplicated above, while portions of it, as for instance the compartments on each side of the main sanctuary, rise up to a third story. These upper stories repeat, in many respects, the disposition of those below, even to the shrine chamber, with its four openings, access to which is obtained from the terraced roofs. (Plate CXXIII).

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The principal impression conveyed by this temple is the variety and multiplicity of its parts, yet all are well proportioned and uniformly disposed within the scheme Then there is the contrast of the pointed spires with the ovoid domes, and the fretted roofs, each of a different character and height, but each signifying the position of some chapel, hall, or tabernacle within. Across these architectural elements move the broad and clear-cut shadows of the wide eaves contrasting with the passages of light on the pillars of the superstructure, such are some of the attractive features of the exterior. In the interior are the unending vistas of the columns interrupted at intervals by open courts, each vaulted compartment ceiled with carving of a most intricate character, and the whole illuminated by either direct or reflected light which is thrown from pavement to pillar, and from pillar to screen to penetrate into all parts. The general effect of this temple may not be that of great architecture, but as a work of inspired art, and at the same time complying with the exacting conditions of the creed, it is a notable achievement.

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Another important shrine of the Jains displaying certain architectonic pretensions, and having much the same derivation and object as the temple-cities of western India, lies more to the south of the peninsula, within the confines of Mysore State. Here, some forty miles north of Mysore city is the sacred site of Sarvana Belgola, an imposing natural formation, which in the course of time, aided by the hand of man, has become one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in Southern India. Attributed by some to a date as early as 309 B.C., a community of fugitive Jains settled here, whose leader, Bhadrabahu, became a martyred saint by starving himself to death. By this action the sanctity of the locality was assured, and towards the twelfth century, there had accumulated on its heights a group of monuments, some of them of more than ordinary significance. In its widest aspect this sanctuary comprises two adjacent granite hills, Chandragiri and Indrabetta, each about four hundred feet high, with the depression between excavated to form a large rectangular tank, called Belgola. Although numerous buildings are to be found on this site, those only having any claims to be called serious architecture are the temples, [Figure: Fig 2 Sejakpur, Kathiawar Navalakha Temple; 11th century]

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Fig 1

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Fig 2 Modhera, Baroda : Surya Temple ; 11th century.

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Baroda, Modhera . Surya Temple , 11th century

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Fig 1 Modhera, Baroda, Sun Temple, entrance , 11th century

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Fig. 2

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known as *bastis* (lit. *basadi*), grouped on the shoulder of the Chandragiri hill. These are fifteen in number, most of them dating from the twelfth century and all are in the Dravidian style of this period, as described elsewhere. The largest and finest of the group is the *basti* of Chamundaraya, which may have been founded as early as A.D. 980, but the present building was probably erected about 1135 A.D. Its dimensions are not inconsiderable, as it measures 70 feet in length, including the portico on its eastern front, and it is 36 feet wide. Except that it has few openings of any kind in its sides in order to conform to the Jain observances, it is of the usual type of the south, with a pyramidal sikhara surmounted by a domical finial at its western end. Owing mainly to the lack of voids in the exterior elevation, the inclusion of which gives such contrast and vitality of effect to the Brahmanical temple of the same period, this Jain temple is inclined to be ineffective and lifeless The remaining *bastis* on Chandragiri Hill are of much the same character and therefore call for little comment.

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Connecting the Chandragiri Hill with that of Indrabetta is the Pilgrims Way, which, passing alongside the holy tank of Belgola, ascends the bare hillside by innumerable steps cut in the granite slope to the walled enclosure encircling the summit of Indrabetta. As a contrast to the *bastis* of Chandragiri, this enclosure contains another class of Jain structure, commonly referred to as a *betta*, although this term, on occasion, may also refer to the sacred hill as a whole. The structural *betta* is not a temple in the ordinary sense of this word, but is an open court surrounded by an arcade or cloisters in the centre of which is a statue of one of the Jain divinities. There is nothing of special architectural merit in the design of these bettas, but they are notable as some of them enshrine standing images of exceptional appearance and also of colossal size. Several such statues, each a monolithic production carved out of the living rock, are to be found in the bettas of the Kanara country, as for instance one at Karkala, over forty feet in height and bearing the date A.D. 1432, and another at Yenur, about thirty-five feet high produced much later, having been erected in 1604. But the earliest and most stupendous of all these great figures is the example on the Indrabetta hill depicting Gommata, son of the first of the twenty-four Tirthankars, which is a most astonishing production. This gigantic image stands over fifty-six feet high, (scarcely ten feet less than the height of the Great Sphinx in Egypt), and was carved in situ, during the reign of the Ganga king Rachamalla II, to the order of his minister Chamunda Raya about A.D. 983. The story of its creation is quite clear. Originally the granite outcrop forming the hill was crowned by a conspicuously lofty rock or tor, and it occurred to the imaginative mind of the Jains to fashion this solid block of gneiss into a statue of their saint. Entirely nude, as he is of the Digambara or "sky-clad" sect, and representing the ideal ascetic who stood in abstract meditation while the ant-hills arose at his feet and the creeping plants wound themselves around his limbs, this Indian colossus, in spite of defects in its proportions is profoundly revealing. Through the surge and stress of over a thousand years this solemn and impassive figure has defied the elements, and the high finish of its workmanship still remains. Surely Blake in his "Four Zoas" had visions of such a monumental image when he wrote;

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"....Reared his mighty stature; on Earth stood his feet,
His naked limbs glitt'ring upon the dark blue sky
Where the Eagles cry and Vultures laugh."

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There is one other architectural feature, common to the temples of this southern type, which is prominent on account of its high aesthetic properties. This is the *manastambha*, or free-standing pillar, an example of which usually confronts the main entrance to the basti, a good instance being that in front of the Parswanathaswami at Sravana Belgola. Planted on a wide-spreading base of several moulded steps, the shaft, square at its lower section, changes to a circular shape having shallow flutes crossed by lateral bands at regular intervals. At the top of the shaft is the capital, usually a fluted vase-motif of Dravidian derivation, and this supports an elaborated superstructure, the design of which gives its character to the whole. This graceful conception of a finial may be likened to a kind of tabernacle based on a wide square abacus, below which is a circular member resembling a full-blown flower. The corners of the abacus are supported by figures or rampant gryphons, while small pillars and finials decorate every projection. As some of these free-standing *manastambhas* are over fifty feet in height they form an artistic and impressive introduction to the temple entrance.