History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s2: Elûrâ Jaina Caves.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s2
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Elûrâ Jaina Caves.
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The Jaina group at Elûrâ has been considered as the most modern there: an impression arising partly from the character of the sculptures themselves, which are of later Jaina style—more, however, from the extreme difficulty of comparing rockcut examples with structural ones. Our knowledge of the architecture of temples is, in nine cases out of ten, derived from their external forms, to which the interiors are quite subordinate. Cave-temples, however, have practically no exteriors, and at the utmost façades modified to admit more light than is usual in structural edifices, and then strengthened and modified so as to suit rock-cut architecture. As no ancient Jaina temple—except that of Meguti at Aihole—has a dated inscription upon it, nor a tolerably authenticated history, it is no wonder that guesses
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274. Entrance to the Indra Sabhâ Cave at Elûrâ, (From a Photograph.)
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might be wide of the truth. Now, however, that we know positively the age of one example, all this can be rectified, and there seems no doubt that the Indra Sabhâ group was excavated—say not before A.D. 850.
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When with this new light we come to examine with care the architecture of these façades, we find the Elûrâ group exhibits an extraordinary affinity with the southern style. The little detached shrine in the courtyard of the Indra Sabhâ, and the gateway shown in the above woodcut (No. 274), are as essentially Dravidian in style as the Kailâs itself, and, like many of the details of these caves, so nearly identical that they cannot possibly be very distant in date. May we, therefore, assume from this that the Chalukyan kingdom of Bâdâmi, in the 7th century of our era, and the Râshtrakûta of Mâlkhed, which follow in the 8th to 10th century, extended from Elûrâ on the north to the Tungâbhadrâ and Krishnâ on the south, and that all these rock-cut examples, with the temple at Aihole (Woodcut No. 181), were excavated or erected under the auspices of these two dynasties!
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275. Monolithic Stambha in the court of the Indra Sabhâ. Scale 10 ft. to 1 in.
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Both the caves named above are of two storeys with a number of smaller halls attached, and belonged to the Digambara division. From this circumstance and the appearance of Gommata along with Pârswanâth in a number of the shrines—as we find these at Bâdâmi—and that the only inscriptions are in Kanarese, we are led to infer that the excavators were from the south and brought the Dravidian style with them. In the right of the court is a large statue of an elephant, and on the left was a fine monolithic stambha 31 ft. 6 in. in height including the Chaumukh figure crowning it. (Woodcut No. 275). It fell over about thirty-two years ago.
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Near the ridge above these caves is a colossal image of Pârswanâth, inscribed as having been carved so late as A.D. 1235. And to the east of the other caves is a curious unfinished temple—an imitation on a small scale of the Brahmanical Kailâs. The sikhara is low and unfinished, and the work was probably suddenly left in this state.¹ During a partial excavation thirty years ago some loose images were found dated in 1247.
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¹ ‘Cave Temples,’ pp. 495f. and plates 86-92.
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Reverting to the remark as to the origin of these caves, it may be assumed that the theory represents the facts of the case more nearly than any hitherto brought forward. The Chalukyas and Râshtrakûtas were situated on the border-line, half-way between the north and the south, and they, or their subjects, seemed to have practised the styles of architecture belonging to those two divisions indiscriminately—it might almost be said alternately—and we consequently find them mixed up here and at Dhamnâr in a manner that is most puzzling.
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The last king of the early Chalukyas, Kîrtivarman II., ascended the throne A.D. 746,¹ and was deprived of all his dominions by Dantidurga, the Râshtrakûta of Mâlkhêd, by 757. It was probably, therefore, after that date that these Dravidian temple-forms were introduced by the Jains at Elûrâ. The Kailâs and other great Saiva temples were excavated by these Râshtrakûtas—themselves a Dravidian race—who carried their power up to the Narbadâ.
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¹ 'Bombay Gazetteer,' vol. i. pt ii. p. 376.
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Before leaving this branch of the subject there is one other rock-cut example which deserves to be quoted, not either for its size or antiquity, but from the elegance of its details. It is situated at a place called Kalugumalai in the Tinnevelly district,² 27 miles south from Srîvilliputtûr, and consequently 75 miles north from Cape Comorin. Like the examples at Mâmallapuram, this one never was finished, probably because the person who commenced it did not live to complete it, and it was nobody's business to finish what was of no use, and intended only to glorify him who made it. It is not cut out of a separate boulder, but out of a ridge, as I fancy those at Mâmallapuram to have been, and if successful, any number of others of any dimensions might have followed. The other side of the Kalugumalai hill had been occupied by the Jains, and numerous images of their Tîrthankars are carved upon it, with inscriptions that supply the names of the villages by which the different figures were carved. This little temple is now dedicated to Subrahmanya, but is said to be originally Jaina; it is probably of the 10th or 11th century, and if it had been completed it would have been one of the most perfect gems of the style. For some reason unexplained it was only blocked out, and the upper part only carved, when it was abandoned, and is now entirely forsaken.³ From its details, it certainly is more modern than the Kailâs—how much we cannot yet say with certainty.
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² Several photographs of it are in the India office collection.
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³ In the same rock is excavated a cave temple dedicated to Ganesa or Pillayâr with a pradakshina passage round the shrine. — 'Cave Temples of India,' p. 159; 'Indian Antiquary,' vol. ii. p. 202.
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OLD JAINA TEMPLE AT LAKKUNDI.
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JAINA STRUCTURAL TEMPLES.
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Lakkundi—Pâlitânâ—Girnâr—Mount Âbû—Pârasnâth—Rânpur—Gwâliar—Khajurâho—Chitor.
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The temples distinctively Jaina in the Dhârwâr districts are not now numerous, yet there are sufficient remains at Belgaum, Pattadakal, Aihole,¹ and at Annîgeri, Dambal, Lakkundi, and other places, to prove that Jainism was at one time very influential. Those at Pattadakal and Aihole have been briefly noticed above (vol. i., pp. 319, 356). It has been supposed that it was probably owing to a succession of able Digambara Jaina teachers, in this Kanarese country, during the 8th and 9th centuries, and who were favoured by the Râshtrakûta kings of Mâlkhed, that Buddhism waned in these districts, and finally disappeared. Respecting the temples, we learn that those at Annîgeri—probably erected in the 10th century—with others in Mysore, were burnt by Râjendradeva Cholâ about the middle of the 11th century, and were restored by a local governor about 1070.
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¹ ‘Archæological Survey of Western India: Belgaum and Kaladgi,’ pp. 1-5, 12-13, 25-26, 35 and 37, where descriptions and plans of the temples at these places are given.
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One of the most entire of the Jaina Temples is at Lakkundi, a village about 7 miles east-south-east from Gadag, in Dhârwâr district.² From the plan, Woodcut No. 276, it will be seen that it is not large. Though somewhat severe for a Chalukyan temple, it is exceedingly well proportioned. The *sikhara*, as seen in the photograph, Plate XIX., is entire and presents the appearance of a Dravidian work, and the head of the [Figure: 276. Lakkundi Jaina Temple.
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² In 1885 it was noted that all the temples here were being rapidly destroyed by trees on their roofs, and by the materials being carried off for building purposes; and in the end of 1897 the statement was repeated in the ‘Revised Lists of Antiquarian Remains in Bombay Presidency.’ The Jaina temple has since been re-occupied; the others are now being looked after by the Archæological Survey.
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(From Plan by Mr H. Cousens.)]
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walls is treated in a way suggesting direct descent from the Mâmallapuram pagodas. To provide an upper shrine, which is a feature in most of the larger Jaina temples, the first storey of the tower had to be made a distinct feature, and with a projecting front or entrance. This temple has an outer open hall or mandapa, having extensions on each side, with an inner hall about 20½ ft. square inside, and a door on the south side as well as the entrance from the open mandap. It is difficult from a photograph alone to fix its age, but probably it belongs to the earlier half or middle of the 10th century.