Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c35.9

c35.9

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."