Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/51

 CHAP. III. PALITANA. 29 placed on a marble throne about 1 1 ft. square with pillars at the corners. The west half of the shrine is surrounded by a verandah, the pillars of which are very richly carved, having on their capitals musicians and dancing figures. The upper storey has elegant projecting balcony windows, and is reached by a stair on the north side of the temple. At the principal entrance are two very small shrines on the right of Gaumukh Yaksha, and on the left of Chakre^vari Yakshini the two spirits supposed to attend this Tirthankara. A type of temple, unique in its arrangement, of which there are two examples here, may be noted. In the small enclosure called the Nandfovara-dvipa Tuk, on the south side of the northern ridge is the first of these. It was erected by the Nagar Seth of Ahmadabad in 1 840, and as the plan (Wood- cut No. 279) shows, it is a square of about 32 ft. with verandahs about 5 ft. wide attached to each side. The floor is divided by twelve piers into nine smaller squares, and the domes of the roof are supported by arches between these piers. The walls of the verandahs and inner square are of perforated stonework, and it has entrances from all four sides the principal being 279. Plan of Nandfovara-dvipa Temple at Satrunjaya. Scale 25 ft. to i in. on the west. Of the nine smaller squares into which the interior is divided, the five inner forming a cross are occupied by pyramidal ^ikharas with recesses on their four sides for marble images of the Tirthankaras. Hence they go under the general name of Chaumukhs. In the central square is the largest of these spires, and. in the centre of each of the four arms of the cross is one of secondary size, with smaller ones on each side of it and pairs in contact in the corners. Thus they number fifty-three in all. The five larger Chaumukhs represent mythological mounts: the large central one represents Satrunjaya itself. On the A west of it, towards the main entrance, is Ashtapada, on which AdLrwar or Rishabha is said to have obtained moksha or complete emancipation ; in the north square is Meru-jikhara ; in the south one 5ameta-^ikhara ; and in the east is a Samosan or Samosarana a term we shall meet with