Page:ER Scidmore--Winter India.djvu/384

362 but common furniture, flicking at them with a doubtful rag, and whacking them again in a way to make one wonder what a European could do to shock religious sentiment and make the Jains hedge a visitor's entrance with permits and guards. It is expressly enjoined that Europeans shall remove their hats and not step on the platforms of the shrines or within the image-cells.

The second temple is the older one and simpler in some respects; but the pillared hall of the main shrine is loftier, its serpentine brackets and struts even more lavishly ornamented, its dome and pendentives more exquisite. We went back and wondered again at all the extravagance of carving in the first temple. Certainly these two Jain shrines are the climax of Indian decoration and ornamental construction, miracles and masterpieces of patient art.

The night on the frosty mountain top aggravated colds dating back to the wet felt slippers at Amritsar temple, and it was a delight to get down to Abu Roads and the dry, hot plain again. The station-master let us go at once to the waiting car that was attached to the train in the middle of the night. The down mail jolted us into before daylight, where another kind station-master let us remain in the shunted car until breakfast-time. At the end of the station platform an ornamental minaret rose above the trees, first harbinger of the day of architectural feasts. Had Ahmedabad not been one of the exceptionally unique and interesting cities of India, I could not have maintained enthu-