Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c35.14

c35.14

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]