Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c35.8

c35.8

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.