Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/71

 CHAP. III. PARASNATH. 45 seems little doubt but that Parasnath would have been more important in their eyes than Palitana or Girnar; but it is not so, and it consequently occupies only a very slight corner in an architectural history of India. Besides the effect the Jains sought to obtain by grouping their temples on hill-tops, the love of the picturesque, which they seem to have cultivated more than any other sect in India, led them to seek it in an exactly opposite direction. Some of their favourite Tirthas are found in deep and secluded valleys. One at Mukhtagiri, for instance, near Gawilgarh, is situated in a deep well-wooded valley, traversed by a stream that breaks in its course into numerous picturesque waterfalls. Another example of this love of the picturesque is found at Ranpur, near Sadari, in Godwar district of the Jodhpur territory. In a remote valley piercing the western flank of the Aravalli or Adabala hills, there is a small group of temples, notperhapssopic- turesquely situ- j~ ated as those at ^ Mukhtagiri, but of more interest architecturally, and situated in a spot evidently selected for its natural beauties. The principal temple here was erected during the reign of Kumbha - karna or Kumbha Rana of Mewar. 1 288 - He seems to have been a liberal patron of the Jains, and during his long and prosperous reign filled his country with beautiful buildings, both civil and ecclesiastical. Amongst others was built this temple of Ranpur Plan of Temple at Ranpur near Sadari. (From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens. ) Scale 100 ft. to i in. 1 An inscription states that the temple was built by a Jaina named Dharanaka in A.D. 1439. 'Bhaunagar Inscriptions,' pp. ii4f.