The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c11.s3: Old Jaina Temple
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c11.s3
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Old Jaina Temple
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About a quarter of a mile to the west of the village of Paṭṭadakal stands a desecrated and disused temple which appears to have been Jaina. It is in the old Dravidian style, and, save for the kalaśa or pot finial, its tower is complete; but it is probably of a somewhat later date than Virūpāksha. Assuming that the outer open porch is part of the original design, I would be inclined to put it at a hundred or a hundred and fifty years later, in the reign of Amoghavarsha I., or Kṛishṇa II., that is, about the time some of the Jaina caves were being excavated at Ēlūra. The great elephants, one on either side of the entrance, are very reminiscent of those at Kailaśa and the Indra Sabhā at that place, and more especially the half elephants on the face of the latter (Fig. 21 and Plates XLIX, LI, LIII and LIV).¹
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¹ See The Cave Temples of Elura, Pl. VII.
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The temple was never finished, the outer wall, surrounding the shrine, and shown upon the plan, not having been carried up beyond a few courses of the basement. This may be seen in the photograph where these courses are noticeable, and the projecting course on the walls above which the sloping roof slabs rested. Some of the pot and foliage ornament, upon the outer wall of the porch, has also been left unfinished.
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Like most of these old Jaina temples, this one had an upper shrine which was entered from the roof of the hall, and for this purpose a great stone ladder was placed in the northeast corner of the hall under an opening through the roof. As already mentioned a similar ladder was found against the wall of the Kont-Guḍi at Aihoḷe. The four pillars in the hall are of the same type as those in that temple, but are, with the pillars in the porch, which have round shafts, a considerable advance towards the later mediæval type.
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The water-pot and foliage ornament forms a very conspicuous feature upon the outer wall of the porch, and it occurs again at the bottom of the hall doorway, on either side. At the upper corners of the shrine doorway are two superb makaras with splendid flowing tails (Fig. 22). Their position here is rather exceptional, and one would have expected to see a delicately cusped toraṇa stretching across from jaw to jaw. Each of the elephants flanking the outer doorway has a rider upon it.² The rider on the north side is canopied by a five-hooded snake¹; that on the south side is too much damaged to say whether it had the same or not. They may possibly be portrait images of the man who built the temple and his wife.
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² Elephants with their riders are often found in Jaina temples, notably at the famous marble shrines on Mount Abū.
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¹ In connection with the *nāga* or cobra-crested chiefs see Dr. Fleet's remarks, *Bombay Gazetteer*, Vol. I, Part II, 576 and 281 note 3.
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Fig. 21.—Elephant beside the door of the Jaina temple, Paṭṭadakal.
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Within the shrine is a small mean-looking *linga* without any *sālunkā*, which has, no doubt, been put in there at some late period, most probably by the Lingāyats. There are no dedicatory blocks over the doors, and the only indications to shew that it was a Jaina temple are two little images of seated Jainas, one half way up the back or west side and one on the north side of the tower. To this might be added the negative evidence that there are no Brahmanical images about the building. The temple faces the east.
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Between this temple and the village are the remains of another old temple, which may possibly be the one referred to in the inscription on the tablet which was found lying in the fields to the west of the village, and, therefore on or not far from the spot. It appears to record the grant of a stone throne or pedestal, and of a bracelet and bangle to the idol of the temple of the god Lōkapālēśvara, which had been built by Anantaguṇa. It is possible, too, that it may refer to Lōkēśvara of the great temple in the village.²
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² *Indian Antiquary*, X, 164
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Fig. 22.—Makara ornament on the door of the Jaina temple, Paṭṭadakal.