History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s8.60

v2.c24.s8.60

THE two places in northern India where the most modern styles of Jaina architecture can probably be studied to most advantage are Sonâgarh, near Datiâ, in Bundelkhand, and Mukhtagiri, near Gawilgarh, 13 miles north-east of Elichpur in Berâr. The former is a granite hill, covered with large loose masses of primitive rock, among which stand from eighty to one hundred brick temples of various shapes and sizes (Woodcut No. 297, p. 63). So far as can be made out, most of these temples date from the 16th and 17th centuries, though a few of them may be older. Their original foundation may be earlier, but of that we know nothing, no one having yet enlightened us on the subject, nor explained how and when this hill became a sacred mount.