Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c9.s5: Tringalvādi
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c9.s5
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Tringalvādi
c9.s5.1
Though not a built structure, the interesting rock-cut Jaina temple near the village of Tringalvādi, is included in our account of the Dakhan shrines since it has not been noticed in our previous volumes on the cave-temples, not having then been examined. Tringalvādi is six miles north-west of Igatpurī, the railway station at the top of the Thal Ghāt, the cave being cut in the foot of the hillside, about a mile west of the village. Though now much the worse for centuries of weathering, it was once a very ornate cave-temple. (Plate LXIV.)
c9.s5.2
It consists of a large hall, 35 feet square, off the back of which are an antechamber and a shrine, and before it is a long verandah the full length of the width of the hall. Along the front of this verandah is a low parapet wall from which rise two pillars, one on either side of the entrance, supporting the outer eave of the verandah. Opposite these pillars are pilasters, and, between the latter, is the main doorway into the hall. Beyond these pilasters, and between them and each end of the verandah, is a grille window—two square bars each way dividing it into nine lights. The front of these bars is prettily chased with lotus rosettes at the junctions.
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In the centre of the verandah ceiling, and in front of the doorway, hanging in deep relief, is a group of five figures in a circle. The middle figure appears to be assisted or carried through the air by another on either side, while two others, beneath, also help. Over the doorway, upon the dedicatory block, is a Jina.
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FIG. 10—Pillar in the hall of Tringalvādi cave.
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The hall ceiling was supported upon four columns set square in the middle of the hall. The walls and ceiling are plain. Round the two sides of the south-west and north-west corners are very low continuous altars for images while round the two sides of the north-east and south-east corners are high benches which are not altars. The south-east pillar, only, remains intact (Fig. 10); the south-west one is continuous from floor to ceiling, but is much corroded about the middle. The north-west and north-east pillars have completely gone, fragments hanging from the ceiling, and their stumps on the floor, being all that is left of them.
c9.s5.6
The shrine doorway is much disintegrated, but it was not so elaborately decorated as the front door. Over it, one above the other on three bands of mouldings, are three Jinas. Within the shrine, which is quite plain, measuring 13 by 12 feet, are the remains of a Jaina image upon an altar placed against the back wall. The chest, head and umbrella have been smashed and thrown away—part of the umbrella lies outside the cave—but the legs and the cushion are left. On the middle of the cushion is the bull, showing that the image was that of a Ṛishabdeva, while on either side of it is an inscription dated Saka 1266.
c9.s5.7
There was a very fine inscription upon the wall in the north end of the cave, but only a very small fragment of it remains. The letters are small and well shaped. The inscribed surface seems to have been about four to five feet across, but it is not certain how deep. The front of the cave with the main doorway was originally painted, traces of which still remain. The partition wall, between the verandah and the hall, has been entirely built of great irregular blocks of stone well fitted together.