History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s8.67

v2.c24.s8.67

One example must for the present suffice to show the effect aimed at by this style in recent times, as well as to illustrate how little it has degenerated from its ancient excellence. For, though this woodcut (No. 299) does not prove it, there are photographs which do exhibit the marvellous details of this temple in a manner not to be mistaken. It was erected about sixty years ago by Seth Hathisingh, a rich Jaina merchant, at a cost of about a million rupees, and dedicated to Dharmanâth, the 15th Tîrthankara. In this instance the external porch between two circular towers is of great magnificence and most elaborately ornamented, and leads to an outer court with numerous small shrines all round. In the centre of this is a domed porch of the usual form, with twenty-six pillars (see plan, Woodcut No. 298). This leads to an inner mandap or hall, two storeys in height, and with a roof of a form very fashionable in modern Jaina temples, though by no means remarkable for beauty, and difficult to render intelligible without more illustration than it merits. This leads to a triple sanctuary, marked by three sikharas, or spires, externally. Behind this is a smaller court with two groups of seven shrines, one in each angle, with a larger cell in the centre, and two—still more important, at the point of junction between it and the front court. To the eye of a European, unaccustomed to its forms, some of them may seem strange; but its arrangement, at least, will probably be admitted to be very perfect. Each part goes on increasing in dignity as we approach the sanctuary. The exterior expresses the interior more completely than even a Gothic design; and whether looked at from its courts or from the outside, it possesses variety without confusion, and an appropriateness of every part to the purpose for which it was intended.¹