History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s8.3

v2.c24.s8.3

So far as can be made out from inscriptions,² as well as from their style, it appears that all these temples, with two unimportant exceptions, were executed nearly simultaneously and almost within the limits of the 11th century; and, what is also curious, they seem to be nearly equally divided between the three religions. Roughly speaking, they are located in three groups, two consisting of Hindû temples—Saiva and Vaishnava intermixed—and one exclusively of Jaina temples. In each group there are one or more greater than the rest, and round some of them a few subordinate shrines are placed; but most of them are independent temples. Among the Saiva temples the principal is the Kandarya Mahâdeva, of which a representation will be given further on; in the Vaishnava class it is the Chaturbhuja;³ and in the Jaina the Pârswanâth: all three so like one another that it requires some familiarity with the photographs to distinguish the temple of one religion from those of the others. It looks as if all had been built by one prince, and by some arrangement that neither sect should surpass or be jealous of the other. Either from this, or from some cause we do not quite understand, we lose here those peculiarities we usually assign to Jaina temples of this age. The vimâna or sikhara is more important than the porch. There are no courtyards with circumambient cells; no prominent domes, nor, in fact, anything that distinguishes Jaina from Hindû architecture. If not under the sway of a single prince, they must have been erected in an age of extreme toleration, and when any rivalry that existed must only have been among the architects in trying who could produce the most beautiful and most exquisitely adorned building. Altogether they may perhaps be more modern than the principal Hindû shrines.