DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0136
72
JAINA ARCHITEOTURE.
Book I.
upper clwarf column or attic, if I may so call it, is placed to give
them additional height, and on these npper colnmns rest the great
heams or architraves which snpport the dome ; as, however, the bear-
ing is long, at least in appearance, the weight is relieved by a cnrions
angnlar strnt or truss of white marble, like all the rest of the building,
which, springing from the lower capital, seems to support the middle
of the beam.
That this last feature is derived from some wooden or carpentry
original, can, I think, scarcely be doubted ; but in what mamier it was
first introduced into masonry construction is unknown : probably it
might easily be discovered by a more careful examination of the
buildings in this neighbourhood. It continues as an architectural
feature down almost to the present day, but gradually becoming more
and more attenuated, till at last it loses all its constructive significance
as a sujDporting member, and dwindles into a mere ornament.
On the octagon so formed rests the dome ; but as this is the prin-
cipal feature of the architecture, and in fact the one which renders it
a matter of interest, it may be as well, before proceeding further, to
say. a few worcls regarding the invention of domes in general, and
of the particular mode of using them adopted by the Jains, without
which I fear any aescription of their architecture will be barely
intelligible.
Domes.
It is to be regretted that, while so much has been wiitten on the
history of the pointed arch, so little should have been said regarding
the history of domes: the one being a mere constructive peculiarity
that might very well have been dispensed with; the other being the
noblest feature in the styles in which it prevails, and perhaps the
most important acquisit.ion with whicli science has enriched the art
of arcliitecture.
The so-called Treasuries of Mycense and Orchomenos, as well as
the chambers in Etruscan tombs, prove that as early as ten or twelve
centuries before Christ the Pelasgic races had learned the art of roofing
circular chambers with stone vaults, not constructed, it is true, as we
construct them, with radiating vaults, on the principle of the common
arch, but by successive layers of stones converging to a point, and
closed by one large stone at the apex.
Whoever invented the true or radiating arch, the Eomans were
the first who applied it as a regular and essential architectural feature,
and wlio at the same time introduced its complement, the radiating
dome, into arcliitectural construction; at what period it is not now
known. The earliest example, tlie Pantheon, is also the finest and
largest; but we have lost entirely the innumerable steps by which
the architects must have slowly progressed to so daring an experiment.
There is, however, a vast difference. between tliese two classes of
domes, which it is necessary to bear in mind in order to understand
what follows.
The Eoman arch and Eoman dorne are always constructed (woodcut
JAINA ARCHITEOTURE.
Book I.
upper clwarf column or attic, if I may so call it, is placed to give
them additional height, and on these npper colnmns rest the great
heams or architraves which snpport the dome ; as, however, the bear-
ing is long, at least in appearance, the weight is relieved by a cnrions
angnlar strnt or truss of white marble, like all the rest of the building,
which, springing from the lower capital, seems to support the middle
of the beam.
That this last feature is derived from some wooden or carpentry
original, can, I think, scarcely be doubted ; but in what mamier it was
first introduced into masonry construction is unknown : probably it
might easily be discovered by a more careful examination of the
buildings in this neighbourhood. It continues as an architectural
feature down almost to the present day, but gradually becoming more
and more attenuated, till at last it loses all its constructive significance
as a sujDporting member, and dwindles into a mere ornament.
On the octagon so formed rests the dome ; but as this is the prin-
cipal feature of the architecture, and in fact the one which renders it
a matter of interest, it may be as well, before proceeding further, to
say. a few worcls regarding the invention of domes in general, and
of the particular mode of using them adopted by the Jains, without
which I fear any aescription of their architecture will be barely
intelligible.
Domes.
It is to be regretted that, while so much has been wiitten on the
history of the pointed arch, so little should have been said regarding
the history of domes: the one being a mere constructive peculiarity
that might very well have been dispensed with; the other being the
noblest feature in the styles in which it prevails, and perhaps the
most important acquisit.ion with whicli science has enriched the art
of arcliitecture.
The so-called Treasuries of Mycense and Orchomenos, as well as
the chambers in Etruscan tombs, prove that as early as ten or twelve
centuries before Christ the Pelasgic races had learned the art of roofing
circular chambers with stone vaults, not constructed, it is true, as we
construct them, with radiating vaults, on the principle of the common
arch, but by successive layers of stones converging to a point, and
closed by one large stone at the apex.
Whoever invented the true or radiating arch, the Eomans were
the first who applied it as a regular and essential architectural feature,
and wlio at the same time introduced its complement, the radiating
dome, into arcliitectural construction; at what period it is not now
known. The earliest example, tlie Pantheon, is also the finest and
largest; but we have lost entirely the innumerable steps by which
the architects must have slowly progressed to so daring an experiment.
There is, however, a vast difference. between tliese two classes of
domes, which it is necessary to bear in mind in order to understand
what follows.
The Eoman arch and Eoman dorne are always constructed (woodcut