Architectural, Sculptural, and Religious Change: a New Interpretation

13 ARCHITECTURAL, SCULPTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE A new interpretation of the Jaina temples at Khajuraho

Julia A. B. Hegewald

Introduction: the continuity of religious sites It is a common feature of sacred architecture throughout the world that at times of political conflict, of changes in population or of religious belief in an area, sites sanctified by one religious sect have frequently been appropriated by the followers of other faiths. Well-known examples of this are the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem1 and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. In some cases changes in the denomination of religious buildings have happened peacefully, by the adoption of deserted and decaying religious buildings and their conversion to the requirements of a new faith. Sometimes, however, the destruction and forceful re- appropriation of active places of worship have also been used as potent symbols of victory and proof of superiority by different peoples asserting their power. Ancient sacred sites are, however, not only potent places in political but also in religious geography. The latter derives its significance from the fact that holy sites are generally regarded to be qualitatively different from ordinary space. They are places where a break between the different hierarchical levels and spheres of the religious cosmos enables contact and communication with the divine.2 In South Asia, there are ample examples of the forcible expropriation of religious sites during the period of Muslim invasion and domination. Well-known examples are the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque (1197 CE) in Delhi (Dilli) and the Arhai-din-ka-jhonpra Mosque (1199 CE) in Ajmer (Ajmir). In Delhi, a large number of Hindu and Jaina temples and at Ajmer, a Jaina theological college (erected in 1153 CE), were destroyed and completely dismantled. The old building material was reused to build new edifices of the Islamic faith on the sacred sites. Although the mosques were constructed from the ruins of Hindu and Jaina edifices, and therefore display decorative elements associated with those religions, in layout and design the mosques do not resemble the former religious edifices.

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Robert Hillenbrand argues that such a ‘naked assertion of power’ is typical of the early period of the Islamic conquest and is followed by a more subtle and persua- sive approach.3 There are, however, also examples from later periods in the history of Islam in India where religious sites were forcibly islamicized: for instance, the Bina-Niv-ki-Masjid at Anantpeth in Ujjain (Ujjayni), constructed out of the remains of a Jaina temple in about 1400 CE, and the Bija Majdal Mosque at Vidisha (Vidifa), originally a Hindu temple from the eleventh or twelfth century, destroyed and converted by Aurangzeb (Alamgir) in the seventeenth century. The Muslims were, however, not the first to annex and convert ancient local places of worship, and there is a long tradition of the continuity of religious sites in South Asia. Sacred locations which were used for Vedic sacrifices were appropriated and converted by later forms of Brahmanism, Buddhist sites were recon- figured for Hindu worship and there was much mutual appropriation between Hindu and Jaina religious buildings. In these cases, the temples were usually not completely dismantled. The main religious images were replaced and the edifices were altered to a certain extent to adapt them to the distinct ritual of the new religion. Examples where Jaina temples were adopted and converted into Faivite temples are the Fvetambara Jaina temple at Bijolia (Bijauliya) in Rajasthan, now called the Undefvara Temple, and the Digambara Jaina temple in the village of Hallur near Bagalkot (Bagalkoth) in northern Karnataka. In both cases, prominent Jaina figures still adorn the temple exterior although their shrines (garbha-grha) now house fiva likgas. Because of the powerful position of Hinduism in India today, it is much rarer to find examples where Hindu temples have been adapted to Jaina worship. I would like to propose in this chapter that two examples illustrating this point, which show how Hindu temples were appropriated and altered by the Jaina community, are the Parfvanatha and Adinatha Temples at Khajuraho (Khajuraho) in Madhya Pradesh. The discussion of these two temples, with particular attention to the larger and more elaborate Parfvanatha Temple, will form the focus of this chapter.

The Jaina temples at Khajuraho The temples at Khajuraho were constructed between the late ninth and the early twelfth centuries. The city was one of the capitals of the Chandellas who ruled the area of Jekabhukti, known today as Bundelkhand. Whilst the Hindu temples of the so-called Western Group have been well researched and documented in detail, the temple structures to the east of the village, today comprising mainly Jaina edifices, have received much less scholarly attention. The Eastern Group consists of four large Digambara Jaina temples: the ruined Ghajtai Temple, the Parfvanatha Temple (Figure 13.1), the Adinatha Temple (Figure 13.2) and the Fantinatha Temple. It also includes several smaller Jaina shrines, many of them constructed either on the foundations of earlier structures, or out of the reused building material of previous temples.4 A large number of Jaina images, the earliest bearing

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Figure 13.1 The small shrine attached to the rear of the Parfvanatha Temple. inscriptions from the beginning of the eleventh century, were uncovered in the area and are now housed in the small Government Museum next to the complex of Jaina temples. It is noteworthy that although several art historians have drawn attention to the prominent Hindu imagery on the walls of the Parfvanatha and the Adinatha Jaina Temples, few have even begun to question the belief that these edifices were originally built as Jaina shrines. It appears that so far no research has analysed the structure of the buildings in sufficient detail to suggest that they were initially designed for Hindu worship. The present chapter will examine the architectural design and certain aspects of the sculptural format5 of the Parfvanatha and the smaller Adinatha Temples,

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Figure 13.2 The Adinatha Temple adorned with Hindu sculptures. and argue that the two religious edifices were originally constructed as Hindu temples. The original shrines seem to have been deserted during the Islamic destructions of Khajuraho between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries,6 and then taken over by the local Jaina community during the thirteenth century. As will be shown here, the buildings continued to change over the centuries and as some parts were closed, new elements were added to distinguish them from their Hindu neighbours and to suit the ritual requirements of the Jaina faith. Both temples seem to have changed their name and main sacred image, once again within the Jaina religious framework. The fact that the conversion process from Hindu to Jaina worship has largely remained unnoticed shows how well and with how

404 ARCHITECTURAL, SCULPTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE much sensitivity the reconstructions and conversions of the temples were carried out. The results are convincing specimens of Jaina architecture. The Jaina temples and shrines of the Eastern Group are located in a walled enclosure, typical of Jaina temple complexes not only in this region, but all over India.7 Only the remains of the dilapidated Ghajtai Temple are located outside this walled temple area, about a quarter of a mile (c.500 metres) to the north-west. Today, the Fantinatha Temple is the largest edifice within the temple compound and represents the principal place for Jaina worship at Khajuraho. It is a multi- shrined construction, consisting of several smaller temples (devakulika), dating from the early eleventh and later centuries, which were linked and arranged around a central courtyard. Although the main sanctuary houses a large standing image of Fantinatha, dated to VS 1085, or 1028 CE,8 the temple as a whole is largely a modern architectural arrangement. Amongst the older temples on the site, the Parfvanatha Temple is the largest and most elaborate. It is the best preserved of the religious edifices in this group, and one of the finest at Khajuraho. In the entrance pavilion, placed on the left doorjamb, is a Sanskrit inscription dating the temple to VS 1011, corresponding to 954 CE. It has been unanimously accepted that this inscription, which is written in the Nagari script, is a copy of an earlier record re-engraved during the thirteenth century. The re-writing of ancient inscriptions is relatively common at Khajuraho.9 Although the inscription is a copy, the structure is so close in style and sculptural treatment to the Laksmaja Temple, constructed between 930–950 CE, that a dating of the Parfvanatha Temple to 950–970 CE has generally been accepted.10 This dating makes the temple one of the earliest edifices on the site. The Parfvanatha Temple was constructed of fine-grained buff sandstone and is raised on a large but relatively low platform ( jagati),11 providing the temple with an open ambulatory for the performance of the rite of circumambulation ( pradaksija). The temple measures about eighteen metres in length and nine metres in width (about 60 by 30 feet). It was planned along an east – west axis with the entrance facing east. It consists of a small, beautifully decorated porch (mukha-majdapa) with a profusely ornamented doorframe,12 a closed hall (gudha-majdapa) with a four pillared nave (fala) in its centre, leading to a vestibule (antarala). The latter leads to the sanctum enshrining a modern black marble sculpture of Parfvanatha from Rajasthan. The image is placed on a sandstone pedestal which bears the bull lañchana of Rsabhanatha or Adinatha, and indicates that even during the time of the Jaina occupation of this temple, its dedication has changed.13 Alternatively, the pedestal could have come from a damaged Jaina temple nearby, but since the statue of Parfvanatha is dated and appears to have been installed as late as 1860 CE, there must have been an earlier image in its place.14 The garbha-grha is surrounded by an internal ambulation path, a pradaksija-patha (sandhara-prasada) with small latticed windows on the north and south sides admitting a limited amount of light and air. At the west end of the temple, a small additional shrine, with access from the outside, has been constructed and attached to the rear of the Parfvanatha Temple (Figure 13.1). This

405 JULIA A. B. HEGEWALD subsidiary structure houses a figure of Adinatha and might possibly represent the image originally housed in the main sanctum of the temple.15 Beautifully carved statues adorn both the inside and outside of this large religious building. Numerous rows of mouldings, and three diminishing bands of sculptures run around the temple exterior as well as the outside of the inner sanctum inside the pradaksija-patha. The well-preserved large temple tower (fikhara) above the sanctum goes over into the roof of the closed majdapa. In front are two smaller roof structures which are clearly later reconstructions. Although scholars such as Alexander Cunningham, Krishna Deva and George Michell drew attention to the prominent Hindu imagery adorning the walls of the Parfvanatha Temple,16 and Eliky Zannas pointed to the striking absence of figures of Jaina Tirthakkaras (Zannas 1960: 151), specialists in Indian art history have not attempted to explain these unusual features. One reason for this neglect could have been the presence of the inscription identifying the temple as a place of Jaina worship.17 In this respect it is, however, important to bear in mind that the text was re-engraved about three centuries after the event which it is recording, and that there is no proof that the epigraphic record was originally associated with the present temple. A further justification for the lack of inquiries into this matter might have been the well-documented fact that the craftsmen who worked for the followers of one faith at a sacred site were frequently also employed to build temples for other religious groups. Such cross-fertilization is especially common in a Jaina context, where many Hindu motifs and divinities were integrated and re-interpreted to fit the Jaina creed. Later, Islamic decorative features also entered the Jaina vocabulary of architecture. It is worthy to note that James Fergusson was troubled by the layout of the Jaina temples at Khajuraho which appeared so untypical to him (Fergusson 1967: 49). Only rarely, however, have art historians suggested explanations for the presence of such an unusually large number of Hindu images on the walls of these Jaina structures. Klaus Bruhn, in his detailed analysis of the sculptures adorning the Parfvanatha Temple, argued that the images are not Hindu as such but strongly Brahmanized in style. He questioned, however, why not at least a few strong markers of correct Jaina iconography, such as Jaina yaksas or yaksijis, were placed in prominent positions on the temple wall. Based on his iconographic study of the temple, Bruhn thought it unlikely that the temple might have changed over from Hindu to Jaina ownership, but he is one of the few to mention this possibility at all and to aim at finding an explanation for the unusual phenomenon (Bruhn 1956: 31–34). Shobita Punja proposed that long after its construction as a Hindu shrine, the Parfvanatha Temple might have been presented as a gift to the local Jaina community (Punja 1992: 146), but there are no inscriptions recording this event. It is worth mentioning that Fergusson, as early as 1876, believed that the neighbouring but smaller Adinatha Temple was built as a Vaisjava temple and only later appropriated by the Jainas. There are a number of strong indications in the actual fabric of the Parfvanatha and the Adinatha Temples which show that they were originally constructed as Hindu temples and later adopted by the Jaina community. A careful examination

406 ARCHITECTURAL, SCULPTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE of the external walls of the Parfvanatha Temple reveals that it used to have two lateral transepts with fenestrations (vatayana). Such decorated balconies are typical of the Hindu temples at Khajuraho, creating the ubiquitous Latin cross with two principal arms on the temple ground plans. In the Parfvanatha Temple these large projecting windows were later enclosed.18 On the outside, the openings were carefully filled with sculptures taken from dilapidated temples in the surrounding area.19 Today, only two small projections on both the north and the south sides of the temple indicate their former existence and create pronounced bhadra projections in the centre of the sanctum and the majdapa walls. The presence of plastered brick sections in these protuberances, which are made to look like sandstone, further support the fact that changes were undertaken to the original fabric of the building.20 The central portion of the temple wall ( jakgha) is enlivened by further shallow protrusions (ratha) and recesses (salilantara). Nevertheless, the effect of a play of light and shade is here much less pronounced than in the developed Hindu temples at Khajuraho, which are furnished with large protruding open balconies creating clear interruptions and voids in the temple facades. At the Parfvanatha Temple small fenestrations are present below the fikhara, but these are too small to create pronounced breaks in the long and continuous sculptural bands. Consequently, the whole appearance of the structure is somewhat more solid. On the inside, the enclosed balconies are even more obvious, because only on the north side has the infill been covered with sculptural decorations.21 Several reasons might explain why the Jaina community decided to fill in the balconied openings when restoring and converting the temple. First, by enclosing the large windows, wall space was gained inside the building to accommodate further religious images for the Jaina ritual of venerating a large number of statues. Today only one large and two middle sized freestanding Tirthakkara sculptures are housed in the temple hall, in addition to the two Jinas located in the shrines. Deva’s detailed description of the temple interior from the early 1970s, however, still mentions ten statues of the venerated fordmakers, placed on elaborate pedestals along the walls of the closed hall (Deva 1975a: 259).22 Another motive for enclosing the large open windows might have been to prevent people from looking into the sacred space of the temple interior. Cunningham, on his second visit to Khajuraho in 1864–1865, was not allowed to enter the religious edifice and could only glance into the inside from the small porch. It is a common feature of Jaina temple architecture in general to create secluded internal spaces which are frequently protected by rings of high walls. A third reason for the infill of the typical Khajuraho balconies, which is not derived from ritual requirements, might have been the wish to differentiate themselves visually from the Hindu shrines in the Western Group. Further structural changes were undertaken on the doorframes of the original temple. The entrance to the gudha-majdapa is framed by a double doorway of posts and beams (fakha). Its lintel is adorned with representations of the nine planetary deities, the navagrahas, with a central image of the ten armed yakfi

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Cakrefvari seated on Garuda, the whole flanked by two figures of four armed seated Sarasvatis. It is worthy to note that there are wide cement grooves between the two sets of doorframes and also where the outer frame was connected to the temple wall. From this, it appears that the lintels and beams were not originally carved for this edifice, as they are too small to fill the available space. In tenth- century India, buildings were constructed of interlocking stones and even during the thirteenth century when the temple appears to have been converted to Jaina worship for the first time, cement was not used for masonry construction.23 Consequently, the alterations carried out on the doorframes must have been conducted at a later stage, possibly in the mid-nineteenth century, when the main image of the temple was changed to Parfvanatha and the Jaina character of the edifice was consciously emphasised. It is worth noting that although most of the Hindu temples at Khajuraho were damaged and extensively reconstructed, none of them have such cement grooves. The explanation here seems to be that in those cases the original temple constituents found within the collapsed buildings, were re-inserted into their initial location and thus fitted exactly. The beams and lintels of the Parfvanatha Temple must be reused parts from destroyed Jaina temples on the site,24 such as the dilapidated Ghajtai Temple nearby.25 The re- employment of old temple material for the repair of damaged edifices and the construction of new Jaina shrines was still continuing when Cunningham stayed at the site in February 1865 (A. S. I. II: 435). The entrance to the garbha-grha is surrounded by a further double doorframe. As in the example discussed earlier, it was cemented in at a later stage and does not appear to be the original frame belonging to the temple (Figure 13.3). As such, the presence of Jinas on the door lintels of the temple cannot, as many scholars have argued,26 be taken as lasting proof of the original dedication of the shrine. The doorway leading to the garbha-grha has two superimposed lintels. Whilst the lower example again exhibits depictions of the navagrahas, a seated Jina, and two flanking images of standing Tirthakkaras, the upper architrave is adorned with alternate images of five seated and six standing Jaina figures. The availability of additional doorframes at the site is supported by the fact that additional parts of such frames have been positioned on the north wall inside the closed majdapa. They frame a seated and two standing Tirthakkara figures and cover the blind wall where the former open balcony has been filled in. According to R. Nath a similar frame was also loosely positioned against the inside wall on the south side of the gudha-majdapa (Nath 1980: 41).27 The fact that the high threshold leading to the inner sanctum of the Parfvanatha Temple depicts a small likga in its centre points to the original dedication of the temple as Faivite.28 This is further supported by Shobita Punja’s interpretation of the imagery on the outside walls of the temple as a depiction of the story of Fiva’s wedding on Maha-Fivaratri as narrated in the Fiva Puraja (Punja 1992: 145–146). The small additional shrine constructed at the rear of the Parfvanatha Temple, facing west, represents another alteration to the original temple building. It was constructed after Cunningham’s visit in 1884, probably during the later part of the nineteenth or early in the twentieth century.29 Whilst some of the local Hindu

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Figure 13.3 Wide cement grooves are visible between the two doorframes leading to the shrine. temples have further shrines and majdapas, these are all freestanding edifices, located either in front or in the four corners surrounding the main temple ( pañcayatana). Nowhere else at Khajuraho have subsidiary shrines either been connected to a main temple building or placed at its rear. Whilst J. C. Harle argued that this kind of additional shrine ‘. . . is not repeated elsewhere, and it cannot be said that it is a function of the temple’s being Jain’,30 additional inter- connected shrines and small temples located behind a central religious edifice are very common in a Jaina context. The small shrine attached to the rear of the Parfvanatha Temple provides space for an additional image and is adapted to the

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Jaina ritual of venerating multiple Jinas.31 From an aesthetic point of view, the external shrine also helps to balance the large temple structure. It creates a second axial projection and seems to counterbalance or mirror the front porch projecting from the opposite shorter side. Changes were, however, not only done to the architectural structure of the temple but also to the sculptural configuration. The main sacred image in the sanctum of the original Hindu temple was probably destroyed during the Muslim assaults on Khajuraho. When Cunningham returned to the site in 1852, the main sanctum of the temple, which he calls the Jinanatha Temple, was empty and deserted although he reported that the shrine had been repaired by a Jaina banker five years earlier (A. S. I. II: 432). In 1865 he was no longer permitted to enter the building which at that time had been restored, internally painted and become an active place of Jaina worship. The first Jaina image to be enshrined in the sanctum seems to have been a statue of Adinatha. This was replaced by a figure of Parfvanatha, bearing a date of 1860 CE, which seems to indicate the date of the latest change. A statue of Adinatha was placed in the additional shrine attached to the rear of the temple. Sculptural changes were also undertaken on the temple exterior. It is striking that there are fewer erotic scenes and depictions of mithuna couples on the Parfvanatha Temple than on most other temples at Khajuraho. Because most of the surviving erotic sculptures are found high up on the temple wall, where they can hardly be seen, one might question if others were not consciously removed and carefully replaced by different kinds of representations during the temple conversion.32 This is not to say that mithuna couples or erotic scenes are not to be found on Jaina temples. The Parfvanatha Temple at Ranakpur (Rajakpur) in Rajasthan, for example, has small erotic scenes carved onto its external walls. At Khajuraho, however, the removal of large erotic scenes might have served to differentiate the Jaina temples from the Hindu structures nearby. Whilst a small number of Jina images adorn the outer walls of the Parfvanatha Temple, there are none at all on the Adinatha Temple. It is striking that the few sculptures of Jaina Tirthakkaras are either placed close to the porch of the Parfvanatha Temple on the eastern side, which was entirely rebuilt during the reconstruction process, or they are located on the walls of the western shrine, which is a later addition. Most other figures adorning the jajgha of the temple, are either clearly identifiable Hindu gods, such as the dikpalas, Fiva and Krsja, or they are lesser known goddesses, which could either be derived from the Hindu or the Jaina pantheon. There are also representations of various composite mythical animals, the vyalas or fardulas.33 Through the positioning of clear Jaina imagery at the entrances to the two shrines of the Parfvanatha Temple, the Jaina character of the edifice was reinforced, and the otherwise Hindu-looking shrine could not be mistaken for a Brahmanical place of worship. The most interesting changes to the sculptural repertoire were undertaken on the inside of this complex religious edifice. The outer walls of the sanctum, inside the pradaksija-patha, are adorned with standing sculptures of playful female figures such as apsaras, nymphs and dryads (vrksika). These images show a very

410 ARCHITECTURAL, SCULPTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE high standard of workmanship and are amongst the most beautiful at Khajuraho. The exquisitely carved female statues of devakganas are interspersed with representations of sitting Jaina Tirthakkaras. These Jinas are clearly replacements of earlier Hindu sculptures which were carefully chiselled out of their niches and replaced with religious icons from the Jaina faith. These changes were carried out with such sensitivity that they are not at all obvious at first glance. Clear evidence for these alterations is, however, to be found in the positioning of the parasols on top of the Jinas. The umbrellas are not placed exactly above the heads of the straight sitting and centrally located Jaina images. Whenever they are found in association with figures of the Tirthakkaras, the parasols are positioned further to the side within the niches, indicating that they either belonged to images in a bent position, such as abhakga or tribhakga,34 commonly associated with Hindu imagery of this period,35 or that they originally framed representations of divine Hindu couples, such as Fiva and Parvati (Figure 13.4). It is interesting to observe, that such replacements of Hindu with Jaina images are much more common on the inside than on the outside of the temple. On the exterior, Hindu sculptures seem even to have been inserted into the wall spaces to enclose the balconied openings. Those statues, however, are largely images of goddesses, female figures or of divine couples where the religious denomination is generally more difficult to determine. Perhaps not enough scattered Jaina figures were available from destroyed temples at the site to be used for such major structural changes. We assume that the majority of temples at Khajuraho were Hindu and that only a much smaller number was constructed by the Jaina community. The increase in the number of figures on the temple, the reuse of sculptures from other buildings, as well as the combination of Hindu and Jaina imagery, might also explain why it is so difficult to define a clear iconographic pattern for the location of individual figures on the structure (Bruhn 1956: 32). The emphasis on the temple interior shows that the inner ambulation around the garbha-grha was given more impor- tance than that on the outside of the temple, and that the ritual life of the shrine was concentrated on the interior. It is typical of Jaina architecture throughout India to have a comparatively plain exterior, often with high protective walls, but a very ornate interior sheltered from outside gaze and intrusion. The Adinatha Temple, slightly to the north of the Parfvanatha Temple, is a much smaller structure. When Cunningham documented the temple in the mid nineteenth century, it consisted only of the prasada, raised on a jagati and crowned by a tall fikhara (A. S. I. II: 432). The porch, made of plastered brick, was added later, either at the end of the nineteenth or early in the twentieth century. A noteworthy feature which further supports the argument that the two major Jaina temples at Khajuraho were initially constructed as Hindu religious edifices, is the presence of an image of Garuda, carved onto the pedestal in the garbha- grha (Fergusson 1967: 51). During Cunningham’s first visit to the temple, in 1852 CE, the seat carried an image of Parfvanatha (A. S. I. II: 432), whilst these days a sculpture of Adinatha is found in its place. Consequently, this temple also changed its dedication once again within the period of Jaina ritual use. The outside of the

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Figure 13.4 Seated Tirthakkara image with misplaced parasol inside the pradaksija-patha.

Adinatha Temple is also adorned with Hindu images. This, together with the presence of Visju’s vahana Garuda, led Fergusson to argue that the temple was built as a Vaisjava shrine and later appropriated by the Jainas of Khajuraho (Fergusson 1967: 51).

Conclusion: from Hindu to Jaina worship The earlier discussion has shown that the Parfvanatha and the Adinatha Jaina Temples at Khajuraho are highly complex structures with a long history of

412 ARCHITECTURAL, SCULPTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE architectural, sculptural and religious change. Without new discoveries of local textual sources or inscriptions, precisely recording and dating events in the history of these temples, it will be difficult to ascertain at what stage which alterations were carried out. A detailed examination of the edifices, however, indicates very strongly that they were not designed as Jaina temples from the outset, as has generally been believed. The two shrines are profusely adorned with Hindu imagery and Jaina figures are only to be found on those parts of the buildings which were added at a later stage, or to the temple interior, where it is obvious from their positioning that the Jaina sculptures were inserted into already available niches. The presence of a large number of dated Jaina figures from as early as the beginning of the eleventh century, which were excavated at Khajuraho, shows that there were Jaina temples at the site during the Chandella period. The Ghajtai Temple, which survives only in a very reduced form, seems to be one of them. A large concentration of Tirthakkara images with dated inscriptions from the reign of Madanavarma, who ruled the area from the early to the mid-twelfth century, points to a pronounced Jaina presence during that period.36 From the available architectural material, it does, however, seem questionable that the Parfvanatha and the Adinatha Temples were initially conceived as Jaina structures. The inscription on the left doorjamb of the Parfvanatha Temple, dating it to 954 CE, is a re-engraving carved in the thirteenth century, and there is no proof that the epigraphic record was originally associated with this edifice. Either the entire doorjamb or the text for the inscription might well have come from another destroyed local Jaina shrine. During the restoration process, the Jaina community clearly aimed at making the temples more Jaina by adding Tirthakkara images and doorframes removed from ruined Jaina structures in the area. There is no reason why in the course of the complete reconstruction of the porch, they should not, in order to add substance to their claim to the temple, also have engraved the copy of a local Jaina inscription on the doorjamb. Based on the epigraphic and architectural evidence available to us at present, and on the reports by Cunningham and Fergusson who paid several visits to the site during the course of the nineteenth century, a possible historical sequence for the evolution of the Parfvanatha Temple may have been that it was constructed as a Hindu temple under King Dhakga in the mid or late tenth century. The edifice was probably destroyed and desecrated during the Muslim attacks on Khajuraho in 1022 and 1182 CE. Because the Jaina inscription was re-engraved during the thirteenth century it seems that the shrine must have been appropriated and rebuilt by local Jainas during this period. The caturviÅfati-patta of Adinatha might also have been placed inside the sanctum at this stage. The temple must then have been damaged again during the Islamic invasion of 1202/3 CE, because the shrine room was empty when Cunningham surveyed the structure in 1852. He found the dated inscription in place in the porch but no shrine had yet been added to the rear of the main temple. On the basis of the inscription of the Parfvanatha image, nowadays housed inside the main shrine, this statue was inaugurated in 1860, around the time of Cunningham’s second survey of the site. The sequence of

413 JULIA A. B. HEGEWALD events as described earlier is supported by Fergusson’s view that the temple was reoccupied by the Jainas in 1860 but that it had been restored and altered at a much earlier date (Fergusson 1967: 50). In 1865, when Cunningham returned to Khajuraho, the Parfvanatha Temple was completely restored and had become an active place of Jaina worship. Although certain details in the history of the Jaina temples at Khajuraho might never come to light, the present paper proposes a new interpretation for the Adinatha and Parfvanatha Temples, which for several decades have troubled art historians working at the site. Another perspective on the new theory proposed earlier is given by the fact that at the end of my research stay in Khajuraho, I came to hear about a fierce and longstanding argument between the local Hindus and Jainas. Their dispute is over the rightful ownership of these two sacred Jaina edifices which the local Faivite community claims are Hindu in origin.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank University College Oxford, the Society for South Asian Studies, the Wingate Foundation and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft without whose generous financial support this research could not have been undertaken. All photographs are by the author.

Notes 1 The Dome of the Rock (Quabbat al-Sakhara) was constructed on the site of a pagan temple which was first reclaimed as a place of worship by the Jews and then converted by the Muslims into a mosque. 2 Mircea Eliade has written about this phenomenon at great length, see for example his The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, originally published in 1957 and reprinted in 1987. 3 Hillenbrand 1988: 105–115. See especially p. 112. 4 Hindu temples belonging to the Eastern Group are the Brahma Temple (early tenth century), the Vamana Temple (eleventh century), and the Javari Temple (late eleventh century). These Hindu edifices are located outside the compound wall of the Jaina temple complex, close to the Ghajtai Temple. 5 A detailed iconographical study of the sculptures adorning the Parfvanatha Temple has been conducted by Klaus Bruhn (1956). 6 The first attack on the temples at Khajuraho was carried out under Mahmud of Ghazni in 1022 CE. In the twelfth century, the last official Chandella Raja, Paramardi Deva, also known as Parmal (c.1165–1202), was defeated by Prithiraj (III) Chauhan in 1182 CE, and in 1202–1203 CE, Qutubu-d din Aibak invaded the area again and took Kalinjar (Kalanjara). See Alexander Cunningham’s reports in Archaeological Survey of India (A. S. I.) II: 412 and XXI: 59, Smith 1981: 203 and Mehta 1979 I: 70. 7 Although most art historians have described the Jaina temples at Khajuraho as lacking a surrounding wall, such an enclosing structure is present today, and is already marked on the plan drawn by Cunningham for his report of the years 1864–1865 (A. S. I. II: plate XCV).

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8 On his first visit to the site, in January 1852, Cunningham recorded an inscription dating the image to VS 1085, 1028 CE, which was later covered with plaster and whitewash (A. S. I. II: 434 and XXI: 61). 9 A further example of the re-engraving of an ancient record at Khajuraho is King Dhakga’s stone inscription from 1059 CE which was renewed by Jayavarmadeva in 1173 CE. In this case, both dates are engraved on the same stone (Kielhorn 1892: 137–147). 10 See for example Deva 1997: 59, or his long discussion of the issue in 1998: 61, 68–70. The Parfvanatha Temple seems to have been constructed during the early part of the reign of King Yafovarma’s son, King Dhakga (c.950–1002). 11 The platform is just over one metre (about 4 feet) high and its original mouldings are now lost. The sandstone for the construction of the temple is believed to have come from the quarries of Panna (Panna) on the Ken River. 12 The porch has a highly decorated ceiling (vitana) with an unusually elaborate pendant consisting of an intertwined pair of figures, probably vidyadharas, carved in the round. The construction of the mukha-majdapa is of one catuski (mukha-catuski). 13 The plinth also retains its original image frame ( parikara) and halo ( prabhavali). From this it can be derived that the pedestal supported a caturviÅfati-patta with Adinatha as the main image (Deva 1975a: 259; Deva 1975b: 287; Deva 1998: 71). 14 For the dated inscription see Deva 1975a: 259. Eliky Zannas read the date on the inscription as 1865 (Zannas 1960: 147). 15 Deva suggested that the shrine at the rear might once have been larger and more elaborate (Deva 1975a: 259; Deva 1975b: 287). According to Nath (1980: 42), the additional shrine on the west side houses another image of Parfvanatha and not of Adinatha. It is worthy of note that an image of Garuda is carved on the front of the pedestal supporting the image in the rear shrine. 16 See for example Cunningham (A. S. I. II: 432) and Michell (1990: 170). Although the sculptures adorning the outer walls of the temple are predominantly Vaisjava, includ- ing some rare images of Parafurama, Balarama with Revati and others (Deva 1997: 59; Deva 1998: 69), Shobita Punja argues that the external decorations depict the con- gregation of the gods at Fiva’s wedding (Punja 1992: 146) and that consequently the temple must have been Faivite. 17 Kielhorn translated the first lines of the inscription as ‘He who bears the auspicious name Pahilla,...is pleased by good people [and] held in honour by king Dhakga, he bows down here to the lord of the Jinas’ (1892: 136). 18 Because of the absence of projecting window openings, the Parfvanatha Temple also has no stone seats (asanapattika) or backrests (kaksasana), typically found within the ornate balconies of the Hindu temples of the Western Group. 19 Out of the originally eighty or so temples at Khajuraho, only about twenty five survive today, and sculptures and debris from the ruined temples are still being unearthed. 20 It is noteworthy that the bhadras adorning the majdapa walls are not centrally aligned. On the north side, the projection is much closer to the porch. This is also the area where the repair works in brick and plaster are most obvious. Also the additional shrine at the rear of the temple has pronounced bhadra protrusions. 21 This is not a feature of the Hindu architecture at the site. 22 It is slightly confusing that later on in his article he states that almost half of the pedestals are empty. It is not quite clear if there were still ten images and another ten empty pedestals in the hall, or if a total of ten pedestals carried five sculptures when he visited the site (Deva 1975a: 260). The figures described by Deva were mostly Jinas, a four-armed standing Yaksi with a lion, and a representation of the parents of the Jina, probably the one now housed in the complex of the Fantinatha Temple. 23 During this period, cement seems only to have been used to cover and seal roof spaces. 24 Fergusson drew attention to the reuse of old building materials in the restoration of temples and for the construction of other edifices (Fergusson 1967: 49).

415 JULIA A. B. HEGEWALD

25 The Ghajtai Temple is named after the chain-and-bell motifs (ghajta) adorning its pillars. Only the ardha-majdapa and the gudha-majdapa of this structure survive, which is believed to have been similar in design but larger than the Parfvanatha Temple (some believe it was almost twice as large; see e.g. Deva 1975b: 280). On the basis of its plan and design as well as the presence of pilgrims’ records carved onto its walls, the Ghajtai Temple appears to be very close in date to the Parfvanatha Temple. It probably dates from the late tenth century CE (Deva 1975a: 261; Deva 1998: 72). Cunningham argued initially that the temple was a sixth to seventh century CE Buddhist structure and suggested that it might have been converted to Jaina use during the eleventh century (A. S. I. II: 431). After extensive excavations at the site, the discovery of a large number of Digambara Jaina figures inside and around the temple, and the re-examination of the door lintels, Cunningham revised his interpretation and concluded that the temple must have been Jaina from the outset (A. S. I. X: 16). Nowadays, this identification has been accepted unanimously. 26 See for instance Michell 1990: 170. 27 A further example of a Jaina door lintel excavated at the site is exhibited in the Jaina museum at Khajuraho. This lintel, too, shows representations of the Navagrahas and Cakrefvari, as well as images of Ambika and Padmavati. 28 Other scholars have interpreted the relief carvings on the threshold as a depiction of the churning of the cosmic ocean (A. S. I. II: 433). 29 Whilst Zannas considers the western projection to be a later addition, Deva believed that it was part of the initial layout. A closer examination of the stonework, the grooves and the sculptural representations, however, shows that the projecting shrine on the rear must have been added at a later stage. Cunningham, in his minute descriptions of the temple on his visits to Khajuraho in 1852, 1865 and 1884, never mentioned the existence of the western shrine, which further supports the fact that it must have been constructed after his last reported visit to the site. 30 Harle 1986: 234 and footnote no. 51 (p. 513). 31 For a discussion of the veneration of large numbers of images, and issues of multipli- cation in Jaina architecture, see my ‘Multi-shrined Complexes: The Ordering of Space in Jaina Temple Architecture’ (2001). 32 A small number of mithuna sculptures also survive in the friezes of the gudha- majdapa and the plinth of the entrance portico. 33 For an iconographic analysis of the sculptures adorning the Parfvanatha Temple and a map exactly marking the location of the few Jina images on the temple structure, see the detailed study by Klaus Bruhn (1956). 34 There is some controversy about the origin and validity of the term ‘tribhakga’. I am using it here in the art historical sense summarised by Gösta Liebert (1986: 301). 35 Images in abhakga or tribhakga are also associated with representations of Jaina patrons and donors, and with Hindu divinities which were integrated into the Jaina religion during the middle ages, but not with the sculptures of Tirthakkaras. 36 Punja (1992: 222) suggests that a Jaina community must have settled in the area of Khajuraho after the invasions of the Islamic rulers of Delhi.

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