Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/92

 JAINA ARCHITECTURE. BOOK V. a waterfall that thunders down from the height of 60 ft. above them. Like those of Sonagarh, they are all of the modern domed style, copied from Moslim art, and none of them, so far as can be ascertained from such illustrations as exist, remark- able for beauty of design. It would, however, be difficult to find another place in India where architecture is so happily combined with the beauties of nature, and produces so pleasing an impression on the lover of the picturesque, though nearer acquaintance may result in disappointment to the antiquarian student of the style. 1 In remote parts of the empire, and especially in the immediate vicinity of the older shrines, this Muhammadan influence was much less felt than in the places just mentioned. The modern temples, for instance, at Palitana have domes, it is true, but they are much more directly the lineal descendants of the old Jaina domes than copies of those of the Mughals, and the foliated pointed arch rarely occurs in the walls of that temple city. It requires, indeed, a practised eye to discriminate between what is old and what is new, and without the too manifest inferiority of modern sculpture this would not always be easy even to the most accomplished antiquary. One example must for the present suffice to show the effect aimed at by this style in recent times, as well as to illustrate how little it has degenerated from its ancient excellence. For, though this woodcut (No. 299) does not prove it, there are photographs which do exhibit the marvellous details of this temple in a manner not to be mistaken. It was erected about sixty years ago by Seth Hathisingh, a rich Jaina merchant, at a cost of about a million rupees, and dedicated to Dharmanath, the I5th Tirthankara. In this instance the ex- ternal porch between two circular towers is of great magnificence and most elabo- rately ornamented, and leads to an outer court with numerous small shrines all ^^ ^ ^ ^^ Qf. g & ^^ porch of the usual form, with twenty-six pillars (see plan, Woodcut No. 298). This leads to an inner mandap or hall, two storeys in height, and with a roof of a form very fashionable in modern Jaina temples, though by no means 298. Plan of Seth Hathi- 100 1 A third notable group of about fifty Jaina temples of modern date exists at Kundalpur in Damoh district, about 64 miles N.N.W. from Jabal pur. ' Archaeo- logical Survey Reports,' vol. xxi. pp. 166-167.