Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/58

 JAINA ARCHITECTURE. BOOK V. MOUNT Astr. It is hardly to be wondered at that Mount Abu, anciently Arbuda, was early fixed upon by the Hindus and Jains as one of their sacred spots. Rising from the desert as abruptly as an island from the ocean, it presents on almost every side steep and rugged scarps some 4,000 ft. high, and the summit can best be approached by ravines cut into its sides. When the summit is reached, it opens out into one of the loveliest valleys imaginable, about 6 miles long by 2 or 3 miles at the widest, cut up everywhere by granite rocks of the most fantastic shapes, and the spaces between them covered with trees and luxuriant vegetation. The little Nakhi Talao, or Pearl Lake, is one of the loveliest gems of its class in all India, and a mile and a half from it, at Dilwara, the Jains selected a site for their Tirtha, or sacred place of rendezvous. It cannot, however, be said that it has been a favourite place of worship in recent times. Its distance and inaccessibility were probably the causes of this, and it consequently cannot rival either Satrunjaya or Girnar in the extent of its buildings ; but during the age of Jaina supremacy it was adorned with several temples, two of which are unrivalled for certain qualities by any temples in India. They are built wholly of white marble, though no quarries of that material, except of inferior quality, are known to exist within 20 or 30 miles of the spot, and to transport and carry it up the hill to the site of these temples must have added immensely to the expense of the undertaking. 1 The more modern of the two is usually ascribed to the same brothers, Tejahpala and Vastupala, whose names are associated with the triple temple at Girnar (Woodcut No. 281): the inscriptions, however, ascribe the erection and endowment to Tejahpala alone, in memory of his brother from whom it is also known as Luniga's Vasati or temple. This, we learn from the inscription, was consecrated in 1230 A.D., and for minute delicacy of carving and beauty of detail stands almost unrivalled even in the land of patient and lavish labour. It is dedicated to Neminath, the 22nd Tirthankara. The other, built by Vimala, a minister or governor under Bhimadeva, in the year A.D. 1031,2 is simpler and bolder, 1 It is supposed the material must all have been brought from Jiriwav in A the Bhakar district to the south-east of Abu, near the shrine of Amba Bhawani. How so much material and in such large blocks could have been carried up the mountain is difficult to conceive. 2 In an inscription recording a repair of the temples in Samvat 1378, after "they had been damaged by Mlechchhas" (Moslims), it is stated that Vimala, by the blessing of Amba, built the temple of Adinatha in Samvat, 1088 (A.D. 1031). 'Asiatic Researches,' vol. xvi. p. 312; 'Epigraphia Indica,' vol. ix. pp. I48f.