DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0110
JAINA ARCHITECTURE.
Book V.
the pillars inside the temples at Mudabidri (Woodcut No. 305)
and elsewhere in Kanara, we find that curious interlaced basket-
pattern, which is so familiar to us from Irish manuscripts or
the ornaments on Irish crosses. As pointed out elsewhere,1 it
is equally common in Armenia, and can be traced up the valley
of the Danube into central Europe; but how it got to the west
coast of India we do not know, nor have we, so far as I know,
any indication on which we can rely for its introduction. There
was at all times for the last fifteen centuries a large body of
Christians established on this coast who were in connection with
Persia and Syria, and are so now. It would be strange, indeed,
if it were from them the Jains obtained this device. But stranger
things have happened than even this in the history of architecture,
and few things can be more interesting when the means exist
of tracing any connection that may be detected between them.
If any one wished to select one feature of Indian architecture
which would illustrate its rise and progress, as well as its
perfection and weakness, there are probably no objects more
suited for this purpose than these stambhas, or free-standing
pillars. They are found of all ages, from the simple and mono-
lithic lats which Ajroka set up to bear inscriptions or emblems,
some 250 years B.C. down to the seventeenth or perhaps even
eighteenth century of our era. During these 2000 years they
were erected by the Buddhists and by the Jains, as well as
by the other sects in all parts of India ; and notwithstanding
their inherent frailty, some fifty—it may be a hundred—are
known to be still standing. After the first and most simple,
erected by A.roka, it may be safely asserted that no two are
alike though all bear strongly the impress of the age in which
they were erected, and all are thoroughly original and Indian
in design.2
It may be owing to the styloclastic propensities of the Moslims
that these pillars are not found so frequently where they have
held sway, as in the remoter parts of India ; but, whether from
this cause or not, they seem to be more frequent in Kanara and
among the southern Jains than in any other part of India. In
the north we depend mainly on the rock-cut examples for their
forms, but they are so usual there that it seems hardly doubtful
they were relatively as frequent in connection with structural
examples, though these have generally disappeared.
It has been suggested that there may be some connection
between these stambhas and the obelisks of the Egyptians. The
1 Fergusson, ‘ History of Ancient and
Medieval Architecture,’ vol. i. p. 479.
2 With the Aroka lats, and the
stambhas at Karle and Kanheri, may be
compared the .Shiva and Jaina pillars at
Elvira, shown in Woodcuts Nos, 202 and
275-
Book V.
the pillars inside the temples at Mudabidri (Woodcut No. 305)
and elsewhere in Kanara, we find that curious interlaced basket-
pattern, which is so familiar to us from Irish manuscripts or
the ornaments on Irish crosses. As pointed out elsewhere,1 it
is equally common in Armenia, and can be traced up the valley
of the Danube into central Europe; but how it got to the west
coast of India we do not know, nor have we, so far as I know,
any indication on which we can rely for its introduction. There
was at all times for the last fifteen centuries a large body of
Christians established on this coast who were in connection with
Persia and Syria, and are so now. It would be strange, indeed,
if it were from them the Jains obtained this device. But stranger
things have happened than even this in the history of architecture,
and few things can be more interesting when the means exist
of tracing any connection that may be detected between them.
If any one wished to select one feature of Indian architecture
which would illustrate its rise and progress, as well as its
perfection and weakness, there are probably no objects more
suited for this purpose than these stambhas, or free-standing
pillars. They are found of all ages, from the simple and mono-
lithic lats which Ajroka set up to bear inscriptions or emblems,
some 250 years B.C. down to the seventeenth or perhaps even
eighteenth century of our era. During these 2000 years they
were erected by the Buddhists and by the Jains, as well as
by the other sects in all parts of India ; and notwithstanding
their inherent frailty, some fifty—it may be a hundred—are
known to be still standing. After the first and most simple,
erected by A.roka, it may be safely asserted that no two are
alike though all bear strongly the impress of the age in which
they were erected, and all are thoroughly original and Indian
in design.2
It may be owing to the styloclastic propensities of the Moslims
that these pillars are not found so frequently where they have
held sway, as in the remoter parts of India ; but, whether from
this cause or not, they seem to be more frequent in Kanara and
among the southern Jains than in any other part of India. In
the north we depend mainly on the rock-cut examples for their
forms, but they are so usual there that it seems hardly doubtful
they were relatively as frequent in connection with structural
examples, though these have generally disappeared.
It has been suggested that there may be some connection
between these stambhas and the obelisks of the Egyptians. The
1 Fergusson, ‘ History of Ancient and
Medieval Architecture,’ vol. i. p. 479.
2 With the Aroka lats, and the
stambhas at Karle and Kanheri, may be
compared the .Shiva and Jaina pillars at
Elvira, shown in Woodcuts Nos, 202 and
275-