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THE FIGURES OF THE TWO LOWER RELIEFS ON THE PĀRSVANATHA TEMPLE AT KHAJURAHO
DR. KLAUS BRUHN, PH.D.
Bibl.: B. L. Dhama and S. C. Chandra, Khajuraho (Published by the Manager of
Publications, Delhi 1953), p. 36.
Introduction and Plans p. 7. Description and Interpretation of the Figures p. 11. Statistics p. 25. Notes p. 26. Conclusion p. 31.
INTRODUCTION
The present article is a specialized study of the iconography of one of the Jaina temples at Khajuraho, but an attempt has been made in the last paragraphs to utilize the results for some general conclusions concerning iconography as subject and as method.
A general description of the Jaina temples, especially of the Pārsvanátha tempie, is given in Dhama/Chandra's monograph :
(p. 28) "The Jaina temples are situated to the south-east of the vil. lage (Khajurāho]. They are, on the whole, architecturally similar to the Brāhmaṇical examples except that the balconied openings of the transcepts, such pronounced features of the other group, are absent here. In the Pärśvanātha temple, however, to admit light into the manqapa and the pradaksina-patha, small perforated windows have been introduced on all the sides."
(p. 31) “The Pārsvanātha temple is the largest and finest of the Jaina temples now surviving at Khajuraho. It is 68 ft. 2 in. long and 34 ft. 11 in. broad and faces east. The addition of a little shrine to the back of the sanctum is a distinguishing feature. The portico preceding this shrine is no longer extant. Internally, the temple consists of three chambers, the mahamandapa, antarala and garthagyha. These chambers are surrounded by a common ambulatory passage."
To my knowledge only a small plan of the temple has been published so far (by Cunningham in the 10th Vol. of the Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India, Plate VIII). Our plans on p. 10 are only meant as guide to the sculptures.
Of the three reliefs only the two lcwer ones are of interest for the student of iconography, the figures of the third one being of quite a
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