DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0534
512 JAINA CAVE-TEMPLES.
was no longer wanted, without having had any permanent influence
on their own peculiar style.
Under these circumstances, though it was of course impossible to
omit a description of these forms in a work like the present, it is
evident that a study of the Jaina caves adds but little to our
knowledge of the subject. It neither reveals to us what the archi-
tecture of the Jains was before they adopted this passing fashion,
nor does it throw any light on the origin of the style they afterwards
developed with such success in their structural temples. Notwith-
standing this, however, the architects who excavated the two great
Sabhas at Elura certainly deserve a prominent place among those
who, regardless of all utilitarian considerations, sought to convert the
living rock into quasi eternal temples in honour of their gods.
was no longer wanted, without having had any permanent influence
on their own peculiar style.
Under these circumstances, though it was of course impossible to
omit a description of these forms in a work like the present, it is
evident that a study of the Jaina caves adds but little to our
knowledge of the subject. It neither reveals to us what the archi-
tecture of the Jains was before they adopted this passing fashion,
nor does it throw any light on the origin of the style they afterwards
developed with such success in their structural temples. Notwith-
standing this, however, the architects who excavated the two great
Sabhas at Elura certainly deserve a prominent place among those
who, regardless of all utilitarian considerations, sought to convert the
living rock into quasi eternal temples in honour of their gods.