DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0512
490
CHAPTER II.
JAINA CAVE TEMPLES.
The cave-temples of the Jains are not of so early an age as those
of either of the other two sects, none of them perhaps dating earlier
than the seventh century. Nor are they numerous : there is one at
Badami in the south of the Bombay Presidency, one at Karusa,
another at Amba or Mominabad, a small group at Dharasinwa north
of Solapur, another at Chamar Lena, a few miles from Nasik, a
cave at Chandor, another at Bhamer, a third at Pitalkhora, and
a group at Ankai in Khandes. All these are comparatively insigni-
ficant, and except in a work like the present would hardly deserve
much attention. It is only at Elura that there are any large caves be-
longing to this sect in Western India. Among its caves, however,
there are two groups known as the Indra Sabha and Jagannatha
Sabha, which, both for extent and elaborateness of decoration, are
quite equal to any of the Brahmanical caves in that locality, with
the single exception, of course, of the Kailasa. At Gwalior are
some excavations and large images cut in the rocks, and in Tinne-
velly are some unfinished monolithic temples.
As might be expected from their later age they show all the
characteristics of detail of the structural temples of the same period.
They consist of halls, much like the Brahmanical cave-temples, but
always with the shrine in the back wall, and in some cases with
others in the sides. These halls at Elura are large and numerous,
probably to afford as much accommodation as possible to the large
SahgJias or assemblies that come together at the annual pilgrimages.
The doorways are richly carved with numerous mouldings and m0
thresholds are introduced. The pillars have the heavy bases a
capitals of the age, with a triangular facet on each side, and img s
are introduced sometimes wherever there is space for them.
The principal images are of course the Tirtharikaras, who, m
shrines always, and elsewhere generally, are represented as seate
a smhmama with their feet doubled up in front of the body, an
CHAPTER II.
JAINA CAVE TEMPLES.
The cave-temples of the Jains are not of so early an age as those
of either of the other two sects, none of them perhaps dating earlier
than the seventh century. Nor are they numerous : there is one at
Badami in the south of the Bombay Presidency, one at Karusa,
another at Amba or Mominabad, a small group at Dharasinwa north
of Solapur, another at Chamar Lena, a few miles from Nasik, a
cave at Chandor, another at Bhamer, a third at Pitalkhora, and
a group at Ankai in Khandes. All these are comparatively insigni-
ficant, and except in a work like the present would hardly deserve
much attention. It is only at Elura that there are any large caves be-
longing to this sect in Western India. Among its caves, however,
there are two groups known as the Indra Sabha and Jagannatha
Sabha, which, both for extent and elaborateness of decoration, are
quite equal to any of the Brahmanical caves in that locality, with
the single exception, of course, of the Kailasa. At Gwalior are
some excavations and large images cut in the rocks, and in Tinne-
velly are some unfinished monolithic temples.
As might be expected from their later age they show all the
characteristics of detail of the structural temples of the same period.
They consist of halls, much like the Brahmanical cave-temples, but
always with the shrine in the back wall, and in some cases with
others in the sides. These halls at Elura are large and numerous,
probably to afford as much accommodation as possible to the large
SahgJias or assemblies that come together at the annual pilgrimages.
The doorways are richly carved with numerous mouldings and m0
thresholds are introduced. The pillars have the heavy bases a
capitals of the age, with a triangular facet on each side, and img s
are introduced sometimes wherever there is space for them.
The principal images are of course the Tirtharikaras, who, m
shrines always, and elsewhere generally, are represented as seate
a smhmama with their feet doubled up in front of the body, an