Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 836

SOME EARLY JAINA TEMPLES IN WESTERN INDIA : 337
cent). The absence of gaväksas typical of the later age further strengthens this view. In fact the entire appearance of the śikhara is more archaic than the two dated and the oldest known examples of Bhūmija class, the Ambarnátha temple (1060) near Bombay and Udayeśvara temple (1080) at Udayapur in Madhya Pradesh. What BHANDARKAR calls "Dekkan style” is now what we know as Bhūmija on the strength of Samarānganasūtradhāra (1035-55) and Aparăjitaprcchā (3rd quarter of 12th century) 64.
The Gūdhamandapa, some 8.9 M wide, is likewise tri anga but bhagavā on plan. Its balconied windows once had grilles (Fig. 17) of the kind known at Modhera. The confronting face of the karna of the janghå here, unlike the Mülaprāsāda, bears figure sculptures; so also the middle part of each of the two bhadra-lattices. Commenting on these figures, BHANDARKAR thus writes: “The figures on these walls are not profuse, but are artistically carved, and cannot be later, in my opinion, than the tenth century. On the south are three, the first of which is a Nāga female with ear-lobes perforated and bearing earrings. She has two hands, the left one of which holds a shield and the right a scimitar now broken off. Her head is canopied with the hood of a snake, whose coils come down to her left foot. The second figure is in a niche decorated with side pilasters, the tops of which are surmounted by two seated Jinas. In the niche itself, the figure wears a crown, necklace and waste band, and stands in the attitude of kayotsarga. The third figure is that of Kșetrapāla, altogether nude, and with two hands, one holding a club and the other upraised but bearing a snake. On the north side also there are only three figures, the central one of which is in a niche, and is almost exactly the same as that on the south side. Of the remaining two, one is a female figure with two hands, of which the left is broken off but the right bears a discus. Below near her right foot is her vāhana, the man. Her ears are perforated, and she wears earrings. The other figure is of Brahmă, standing with two hands, the right one of which is raised up and bears a rosary while the left holds a pitcher. He has a beard and wears khadāvs or wooden sandals. His ears are also perforated, and behind his head is shewn a
64 STELLA KRAMRISCH was the first scholar to identify the Bhūmija
mode. KRISHNA DEVA has discussed the morphological features of this mode at some length in his presidential address (Fine Arts and Technical Science Section) at All India Oriental Conference,
Srinagar, 1961. G.J.V. 22