Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/80

 JAINA ARCHITECTURE. BOOK V. congeners. 1 Both of these are circular enclosures with the shrines ranged round the inside of the walls. The temple itself it is true has gone if any central structure ever existed but what we see is probably as old as the 9th century, if not older. 2 The other exceptional building is one of totally different character, and is as remarkable for its extreme elegance, even at Khajuraho, as the other is for its rudeness. It is called Ghantai, either from the bells sculptured on its pillars, or for some other cause unknown. Unfortunately, it is only a frag- ment a skeleton without flesh a few pillars of a double portico now standing alone without the walls that may once have enclosed them (Woodcut No. 292). From the form of several letters in an inscription, found near these ruins, General Cunningham was inclined to believe that this temple may belong to the 6th or /th century of our era ; and from finding a Buddhist statue and a short Buddhist inscription near them, he was at first inclined to assign them to that religion. Later he made excavations on the site and found some eleven figures apparently Digambara Jaina, and two distinctively Vaishnava. Hence he concluded that it must have been a Jaina temple. 3 The plan, too, of the building, so far as it can be made out, is unlike anything we know that is Buddhist, but very similar to many that certainly are Jaina. 4 Be this as it may, these pillars are singularly graceful in their form, and elegant in their details, but they do not belong to the early style to which they were at first ascribed. There are eight of these sandstone shafts, each 14 ft. 6 in. in height. These are arranged in two squares about 15 ft. apart, and between the two are some square pillars and a carved doorway, apparently the entrance to the mandap. On its lintel a four- armed goddess is carved, mounted on a Garuda, and a small nude male in each side niche : these could not have been prepared for a Jaina temple. Then the granite pilasters for the walls are of various lengths, several having one or more blocks added above or below to make up the proper heights, and pointing to a reconstruction. 5 If it ever were completed the temple would be in plan almost a copy of that of Pamvanath noticed above, having a porch on the east and a mandapa 21 ft. 6 in. wide, with the second group of four carved columns 1 ' Survey Reports,' vol. ix. pp. 60-74, and plates 12-15. The enclosure is 116 ft. diameter inside. 2 It is built of granite, and its plan and the forms of its .rikharas, induce me to believe it to be exceptionally old. 3 'Archaeological Survey Reports,' vol. ii. p. 431, and vol. x. p. 16. 4 For plans of similar Jaina temples, see ' Report on Belgam and Kaladgi,' plates 2, 10, and 45. These, however, are more modern than this one. 5 Le Bon, ' Les Monuments de PInde,' P- 79> fig. 64 ; ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xlviii. pt. i., p. 294.