DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0072
Chap. III.
PARASNATH.
45
seems little doubt but that Parasnath would have been more
important in their eyes than Palitana or Girnar; but it is
not so, and it consequently occupies only a very slight corner
in an architectural history of India.
Besides the effect the Jains sought to obtain by grouping
their temples on hill-tops, the love of the picturesque, which
they seem to have cultivated more than any other sect in India,
led them to seek it in an exactly opposite direction. Some of
their favourite Tirthas are found in deep and secluded valleys.
One at Mukhtagiri, for instance, near Gawilgarh, is situated in
a deep well-wooded valley, traversed by a stream that breaks
in its course into numerous picturesque waterfalls.
Another example of this love of the picturesque is found
at Ranpur, near Sadari, in Godwar district of the Jodhpur
territory. In a
remote valley
piercing the
western flank of
the Aravalli or
Adabala hills,
there is a small
group of temples,
notperhaps so pic-
turesquely situ-
ated as those at
Mukhtagiri, but
of more interest
architecturally,
and situated in a
spot evidently
selected for its
natural beauties.
The principal
temple here was
erected during the
reign of Kumbha-
karna or Kumbha
Rana of Mewar.1 288’
He seems to have
been a liberal
patron of the Jains, and during his long and prosperous reign
filled his country with beautiful buildings, both civil and
ecclesiastical. Amongst others was built this temple of Ranpur
Plan of Temple at Ranpur near Sadari.
(From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.)
Scale ioo ft. to i in.
1 An inscription states that the temple was built by a Jaina named Dharanaka
in a.d. 1439.—‘ Bhaunagar Inscriptions,’ pp. H4f.
PARASNATH.
45
seems little doubt but that Parasnath would have been more
important in their eyes than Palitana or Girnar; but it is
not so, and it consequently occupies only a very slight corner
in an architectural history of India.
Besides the effect the Jains sought to obtain by grouping
their temples on hill-tops, the love of the picturesque, which
they seem to have cultivated more than any other sect in India,
led them to seek it in an exactly opposite direction. Some of
their favourite Tirthas are found in deep and secluded valleys.
One at Mukhtagiri, for instance, near Gawilgarh, is situated in
a deep well-wooded valley, traversed by a stream that breaks
in its course into numerous picturesque waterfalls.
Another example of this love of the picturesque is found
at Ranpur, near Sadari, in Godwar district of the Jodhpur
territory. In a
remote valley
piercing the
western flank of
the Aravalli or
Adabala hills,
there is a small
group of temples,
notperhaps so pic-
turesquely situ-
ated as those at
Mukhtagiri, but
of more interest
architecturally,
and situated in a
spot evidently
selected for its
natural beauties.
The principal
temple here was
erected during the
reign of Kumbha-
karna or Kumbha
Rana of Mewar.1 288’
He seems to have
been a liberal
patron of the Jains, and during his long and prosperous reign
filled his country with beautiful buildings, both civil and
ecclesiastical. Amongst others was built this temple of Ranpur
Plan of Temple at Ranpur near Sadari.
(From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.)
Scale ioo ft. to i in.
1 An inscription states that the temple was built by a Jaina named Dharanaka
in a.d. 1439.—‘ Bhaunagar Inscriptions,’ pp. H4f.