History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s5: Mount Âbû.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s5
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Mount Âbû.
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It is hardly to be wondered at that Mount Âbû, anciently Arbuda, was early fixed upon by the Hindûs and Jains as one of their sacred spots. Rising from the desert as abruptly as an island from the ocean, it presents on almost every side steep and rugged scarps some 4,000 ft. high, and the summit can best be approached by ravines cut into its sides. When the summit is reached, it opens out into one of the loveliest valleys imaginable, about 6 miles long by 2 or 3 miles at the widest, cut up everywhere by granite rocks of the most fantastic shapes, and the spaces between them covered with trees and luxuriant vegetation. The little Nakhi Talâo, or Pearl Lake, is one of the loveliest gems of its class in all India, and a mile and a half from it, at Dilwâra, the Jains selected a site for their Tîrtha, or sacred place of rendezvous. It cannot, however, be said that it has been a favourite place of worship in recent times. Its distance and inaccessibility were probably the causes of this, and it consequently cannot rival either Satrunjaya or Girnâr in the extent of its buildings; but during the age of Jaina supremacy it was adorned with several temples, two of which are unrivalled for certain qualities by any temples in India. They are built wholly of white marble, though no quarries of that material, except of inferior quality, are known to exist within 20 or 30 miles of the spot, and to transport and carry it up the hill to the site of these temples must have added immensely to the expense of the undertaking.¹
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¹ It is supposed the material must all have been brought from Jâriwâv in the Bhâkar district to the south-east of Âbû, near the shrine of Ambâ Bhawânî. How so much material and in such large blocks could have been carried up the mountain is difficult to conceive.
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The more modern of the two is usually ascribed to the same brothers, Tejahpâla and Vastupâla, whose names are associated with the triple temple at Girnâr (Woodcut No. 281): the inscriptions, however, ascribe the erection and endowment to Tejahpâla alone, in memory of his brother from whom it is also known as Lûniga's Vasati or temple. This, we learn from the inscription, was consecrated in 1230 A.D., and for minute delicacy of carving and beauty of detail stands almost unrivalled even in the land of patient and lavish labour. It is dedicated to Neminâth, the 22nd Tîrthankara.
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The other, built by Vimala, a minister or governor under Bhîmadeva, in the year A.D. 1031,² is simpler and bolder, though still as elaborate as good taste would allow in any purely architectural object. Being one of the oldest as well as one of the most complete examples of a Jaina temple, its peculiarities form a convenient introduction to the style, and among other things serve to illustrate how complete and perfect it had already become when we first meet with it in India.
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² In an inscription recording a repair of the temples in Samvat 1378, after "they had been damaged by Mlechchhas" (Moslims), it is stated that Vimala, by the blessing of Ambâ, built the temple of Âdinâtha in Samvat, 1088 (A.D. 1031).—‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xvi. p. 312; ‘Epigraphia Indica,’ vol. ix. pp. 148f.
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283. Temple of Vimala, Mount Âbû. (From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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The annexed plan (Woodcut No. 283) will explain the general arrangements of the temple of Vimala, which, as will be observed, are similar to some we have already met, though of course varying considerably in extent and detail. The entrance is through a domed portico, facing which is a square building supported by six pillars, and containing ten statues of elephants, each a single block of white marble, about 4 ft. high. On each of them was seated a figure on a rich *hauda* behind the driver.¹ These represented Vimala and his family in procession to the temple; but the figures have been destroyed by Moslim zealots, and an equestrian statue of Vimala has been placed in the doorway, made of stucco and painted in a style not deserving notice. Behind it, in the centre, is a Samosaran of three tiers as usual.
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¹ The names of nine of the riders are carved on their seats, six dated in A.D. 1149 and three in 1180.
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The principal object here, as elsewhere, is a cell lighted only from the door, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the Jina to whom the temple is dedicated, in this instance Rishabhanâth or Âdinâth. The cell, as in all other examples, terminates upwards in a sikhara, or pyramidal roof,¹ which in these Âbû temples, however, are too low to be properly designated spires. To this, as in almost all instances, is attached a mandapa or closed hall, and in front of this a portico, generally of considerable extent, and in most examples surmounted by a dome resting on eight pillars, which forms indeed the distinguishing characteristic of the style, as well as its most beautiful feature. In this example the portico is composed of forty-eight free-standing pillars, which is by no means an unusual number; and the whole is enclosed in an oblong courtyard, 128 ft. by 75 ft. inside, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of cells, as usual fifty-two in number,² with some extra chapels at the south-west corner; these enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in Buddhist vihâras. In this case, however, each cell, instead of being the residence of a monk, is occupied by one of those cross-legged images of Jinas which belong alike to Buddhism and Jainism, and between which the untaught find it difficult to distinguish. In the south-west corner of the court, on a slightly higher level, is a small early temple of Ambâ³ which is somewhat out of alignment with the rest, and has apparently fixed the limit of the enclosure; there is also a suspicion that the central shrine, built of stone—not marble—may be of earlier date than the 11th century.⁴
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¹ See *ante*, vol. i. p. 322.
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² 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. ix. pp. 99, 100.
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³ Ambâ is a name of Durgâ, and also of the Yakshinî or familiar devî of Neminâtha, the 22nd Tîrthankara, to whom Tejahpâla's temple is dedicated. A large black image of Neminâth in an adjoining shrine might suggest that this temple was first dedicated to that Jina. Ambâ figures largely in Jaina mythology; and her Hindû temple at Ambâjî, 15 miles north-east from Dântâ, is visited by crowds of Jaina pilgrims.
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⁴ Many of the short inscriptions on the cell doors and the images in them are dated a century later than the erection by Vimala.
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In other religions there may be a great number of separate similar chapels attached to one building, but in no other would fifty-two be found, as in this example, or that surrounding the temple of Neminâth at Girnâr (Woodcut No. 280), each containing an image of a Tîrthankara, and all so nearly identical as to be almost undistinguishable. With the Jains it seems to be thought the most important point that the Jinas or saints are honoured by the number of their images, and that each principal image should be provided with a separate abode. In other examples, however, it is only a separate niche. On some Jaina monuments the images of the Tîrthankaras are repeated hundreds, it may almost be said a thousand times over, all the images alike, and the niches arranged in rows beside and above each other, like pigeon-holes in a dovecote.
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284. Temple of Vimala, Mount Âbû. (From a Sketch by the Author.)
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Externally the temple is perfectly plain, and there is nothing to indicate the magnificence within, except the spire of the cell peeping over the plain wall, though even this is the most insignificant part of the erection. The external porch, too, is insignificant, so that one is totally unprepared for the splendour of the interior.
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The woodcut (No. 284) will give some idea of the arrangement of the porch, but it would require a far more extensive and elaborate drawing to convey a correct impression of its extreme beauty of detail and diversity of design. The great pillars, as will be seen, are of the same height as those of the smaller external porticos; and like them they finish with the usual bracket-capital of the East; upon this an upper dwarf column or attic, if it may be so called, is placed to give them additional height, and on these upper columns rest the great beams or architraves which support the dome, the springing of which is shown in woodcut No. 284 (*ante*, p. 39); as, however, the bearing is long, the weight is relieved, at least in appearance, by the curious angular strut or truss of white marble, mentioned above (vol. i. p. 315), which, springing from the lower capital, seems to support the middle of the beam.
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That this last feature is derived from some wooden or carpentry original, can scarcely be doubted; but in what manner it was first introduced into masonry construction is unknown: probably it might be discovered by a careful examination of the buildings in this neighbourhood.¹ It continues as an architectural feature down to the present day, but gradually becoming more and more attenuated, till at last, except in one example at Delhi, to be mentioned hereafter, it loses all its constructive significance as a supporting member, and dwindles into a mere ornament.
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¹ In the temple of Vâdîpura-Pârswanâth, at Anahilawada, built in 1594, we have an example of a temple of which the whole interior (illustrated in ‘Archæological Survey of Western India,’ vol. ix. p. 49 and plates 4, 20 and 21) is carved in wood. Jaina temples with carved wood façades and interiors are generally met with in the larger cities.
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The marble dome in this temple is of great beauty from its very rich carving, which may be judged of to some extent from the photograph, Plate XX. It differs in minor details from that in Tejahpâla’s temple (Woodcut No. 286), though the general design is the same, and the description of the latter, given below, will apply to this. In the roofs of the corridors of this temple also there is a series of carvings of most complicated ornamental designs that are quite unrivalled anywhere else.
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In Tejahpâla’s temple, which stands to the north-east of the preceding, the procession of the founder’s family occupies the place of the cells in the east end of the enclosure behind the shrine.² This corridor is separated from the court by a pierced screen of open tracery: a little rude and heavy, it must be confessed, but still a fine work of its kind. Behind it, in the centre, is an elaborately carved Chaumukh, with five elephants on each side of very excellent workmanship, and with rich trappings sculptured with the most exquisite precision. The Moslim has, however, carried off or destroyed their riders.¹
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² ‘Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana,’ p. 16.
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¹ ‘Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,’ p. 40; Tod’s ‘Travels in Western India,’ pp. 106-109, 111.
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DOME IN VIMALA’S TEMPLE, MOUNT ÂBÛ.
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285. Temple of Tejahpâla, Mount Âbû. (From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
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The temple is entered on the south-west, from the court between it and Vimala’s by a stair at the south of the enclosure. The plan is in imitation of the older temple, from which it differs but little in size, measuring over all about 155 ft. by 92 ft. (Woodcut No. 285). The pillars supporting the porch are somewhat taller and of eight different types, as may be noted in the photograph (Plate XX). On the other hand, in Vimala’s the general style of the 11th century is adhered to throughout; the dome of the portico is slightly less in diameter than in the former, but quite rivalling it in elaboration of detail and beauty of design.
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On the octagon formed by the massive architraves across the heads of the pillars rests the dome (Woodcut No. 286). In both temples a single block in the angles of the octagon suffices to introduce the circle. Above the second row of ornaments sixteen bracket pedestals are introduced supporting statues, and in the centre is a pendant of the most exquisite beauty; the whole is in white marble, and finished with a delicacy of detail and appropriateness of ornament which is probably unsurpassed by any similar example to be found anywhere else. Those introduced by the Gothic architects in Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster, or at Oxford, are coarse and clumsy in comparison. It is difficult, by any means of illustration, to convey a correct idea of the extreme beauty and delicacy of these pendant ornaments, but the illustrations on Plate XXI. and woodcut No. 286 from photographs will explain their form, even if it cannot reflect their
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286. Pendant in Dome of Tejahpâla's Temple at Âbû. (From a Photograph.)
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beauty. In each of them there are placed, on brackets round the circumference, sixteen four-armed female figures called Vidyâdevîs—goddesses of knowledge.¹ In the roofs of the corridors, also, the coffers are carved in the richest and most varied patterns.
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¹ Bühler, 'Indian Sect of the Jainas,' English translation, p. 65. For other analogous examples, see 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. ix. p. 49, and plates 20, 21, ; p. 85 and plate 58 ; p. 104 and plates 84, 86. The engraver of the above woodcut (No. 286) has failed to realise that these figures have four arms: otherwise it represents the roof quite accurately.
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Over the doors of the cells or kulikâs are forty-six inscriptions recording their construction and grants for the worship of the different Tîrthankaras they enshrine, chiefly by Tejahpâla and his relatives, and dated between A.D. 1230 and 1236.¹
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¹ 'Epigraphia Indica,' vol. viii. pp. 200-229.
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The other two temples here are—that of Âdinâtha, close to Tejahpâla's on the south-east, of which the *bhamti* or surrounding enclosure of cells has been only partly completed; the other is a great Chaumukh temple of Âdinâth, built in the middle of the 15th century—three storeys in height with
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287. Pillars at Chandrâvati. (From Tod's 'Western India.')
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open domed porticos on the four sides—that on the west being the principal, and having seventy-six pillars.
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As before hinted, there never seems to have been any important town on Mount Âbû. It was too inaccessible for that purpose; but a few miles to the southward on the plain are the remains of an extensive city, called Chandrâvati,² where there are—or rather were, till about twenty-five years ago—extensive remains of Jaina and Hindû temples of the same age and style as those on the mount, some of them probably more modern, but still all of the best age. The place, however, was destroyed at the time of the Muhammadan conquest in the middle of the 14th century, and has since remained wholly deserted. It has in consequence been used as a quarry by the neighbouring towns and villages, so that none of its buildings now remain. The fragment, however, preserved in Colonel Tod's work and shown in Woodcut No. 287, but now destroyed, may serve to illustrate the style in which they were erected, but no two pillars were exactly alike; it would have required hundreds to represent their infinite variety of detail.
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² Forbes 'Râs Mâlâ,' vol. i. p. 274; Tod, 'Travels in Western India,' p. 134. When the railway from Ahmadâbâd into Râjputâna was making, the contractors destroyed and carted away, for culverts and permanent way, the marble temples that remained at Chandrâvati.—'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. ix. p. 98.