08 Chapter 3.Pdf

Pmchakuta basadi Front view - Panchakuta basadi Interior of Panchakuta basadi Sule basadi CHAPTER HI ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF HUMACHA TEMPLES. Humacha is even today famous for the temples of Padmavati and Parsvanatha. There are some Jaina temples complexes which speak about die past glory of foe site. These temples are not only old but also have some 22 inscriptions. These inscriptions belong to the period of 8th to 15th century. Humacha was foe capital town of Santara Dynasty. The rulers and their queens built these Jaina temples because Santara rulers were followers of Jaina religion. Even every year number of Jaina pilgrims visit these temples. Some portions of foe Padmavati temple is newly built some years ago and remaining temples are old. But for the student history and Epigraphy these old temples are very useful to reconstruct foe history ofHumacha. Again these temples have possessed some architectural features. Therefore in this chapter attempt has been made to study art and architecture ofHumacha temples. THE ROLE OF TEMPLES IN ANCIENT PERIOD. The temples of Padmavati, Parsvanatha and other temples Humacha’s were important centres of Jaina religious worship since 8th century onwards. It was at these Jaina temples that the people listened to the reading ofAngas and Agamas and other Jaina scriptures and made their votive offerings to the deity. They were also important as educational agencies. For in them arrangements were made to impart education to the young. Sometimes advanced education also found place, 62 within their precincts. Finally the temples sheltered many Jaina ascetics who were given food and raiment free of charge.1 The temple staff generally consisted of the Bhattaraka, the remsiga (the flute player) the ravalavata, goldsmiths the pergade (manager), the courtesans, the drummer and the stone mason. The temples were supported by the endowments of kings and nobles. Similarly the rich and benevolent citizens purchased lands and gave them to the god to provide for the ordinary expenses. The temples were also maintained by charging the worshippers with visiting fees, and from the toll levied on merchants and fanners. In some temples the various expenses were met by the different castes. Thus the washermen and the Kottalis of the village of Gama in the Shikarpur taluqua agreed among themselves that they should contribute one pana per family to provide lamp oil and sandal for the god Vinayaka. In other villages it was the oilman who made over to the temple authorities. From a social point of view the temples served a very useful purpose. The temples, though they were of great use to the temple, being the religious and educational centres.2 SPECIAL FEATURES OF SANTARA ARCHITECTURE The extent buildings shows that the early Santara temples consisted of a Vimana (Sondum budding proper) of the Brahmacchanda (Square) class with a Mahamandapa (closed hall) in front, broader and also larger than the Vimarta. The ground plan of the Vimana is not differentiated into bhadra-offseXs and Kama - angles. ' Moraes George, M.: The Kadamba Kula, (Bombay-1931) p.250. 2 Ibid, 251. 63 In elevation, the temple has either the Padabandha, or the pratibanadha, but not infrequently the Kapotabanda class of adhisthana (base), where the Kandhara ( recessed moulding), unlike the buildings of the lower Dravidadesa, shows galapadas (neck- pilasters) also in positions lying between the post-points of the pada (wall-pilaster) of the Vimana. The wall-pilasters are invariably of the Brahmabanta type, but the Lasuna (Vase formed member) is shorter, and in shape vaguely recalling the so-called bell-capitals of the early Indian architecture. The inverted Lasuna is separated from the upper opposite one by a broader, intervening belt, a significant feature occurring also in the context of the later Karnataka style under the Chalukyas ofKalyana.3 The superstructure, wherever present, is dvitala and crowned by a square sikhara. The grhapinadi (wall of the upper storey) generally has the ornamental enrichment of Salapanjara at the Bhadra’s and Kapotqpanjara’s at the Kama section. The doorframe of the Mahamandapa was elegantly carved in the more richly ornamented temples. In the interior of the Mahamandapa are found four pillars forming foe nave, some times beautifully ornamented as in the Bogara and the Guddada-basti. Unlike the temples of lower Dravidadesa, but the like the Jaina cave IV at Badami (ca. early 7th century) and some Rastrakutas buildings, the nave pillars, in two examples are of the Brahmakanta order, in case of the Guddada-basti, they are of the compound class. A free standing Makara-torana resting on a pair of pillars was set up as a rule, at some distance in front of the doorway of the mandapa, the earlier buildings however have 3 Shah U P. &. Dhaky, M.A. (Ed ): Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture: (1975: Ahmedabad): Article of Dhaky M.A. entitled “Santara Architecture”, p.186. 64 lost this feature, other wise inferable from the fragment of the surviving torana pediment and what is preserved in later temples such as the Pancakuta-basadi.4 The following is the detail description of each temple located at Humacha. PARSVANATHA BASTI (Period of Jinadattaraya; Early 9th century.) In the precincts of the temples of Parsvanatha and Padmavati are stated a large number of sculptures and architectures discarded from ancient Jaina foundations of differing dates within the town. As the most ancient going by style judgment. They may reasonably be placed in the period of Jinadattaraya, for they seem, in site’s context, not only relatively archaic but also very weather-worn are neither heavily adorned nor are the ornaments very detailed. They moreover, possess traces of schematism - characteristic of the relatively earlier art of the Dravidadesa,5 6 The later Santara inscriptions credit Jinadattaraya with the foundation of Lokkiyabbe Jina-geha' which was a temple sacred to Parsvanatha with Padmavati as the tutelary deity. Lokhiyabbe or Jakkiyabbe Padmavati was also the patron goddess of the Santaras and the presiding deity of the city of Pombulcca, to her, Santara inscription time and again reverentially refer. A ceiling piece containing the zoomorphic figure of the serpent king Dharanendra and a few sculptures assignable to the probable time of Jinadattaraya are the only relics of earlier art and architecture surviving in Humacha.* 4 Shah U.P. & Dhakey Op.Cit. p.186-87. s Dhaky M. A.: Santara Sculpture, (Article) Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, New series, Vol, IV: (1971-72, Calcutta), p.83. 6 Dhaky M.A., Op.Cit. p.83. 65 PARSVANATHA: Dharanendra Yaksa and Yaksi: Parsvapandita, a Kannada poet, composed the Parsvanathapuranam in the early art of the 13th century. According to this work, Parsva was bom to king Asvasena and queen Brhamadatta. Parsva’s parents are named Visvasena and Brhamadevi in the Cavundarayapuranam and as Visvasena and Brahmila in the sastra-Sarasamuccaya- Tiku. This blue-coloured Tirthankara is endowed with the congnizance of a snake and the services of Yaksa Dharandendra and Yaksi Padmavati7 He describes Dharanendra as die leader of the Nagas and as destroyer of the Upasargar created by Kamatha. He also gives an elaborate picture of how Dharamendra, the lord of the nether emerged out of earth and spread his enormous hood over the meditating Parsva and how his consort Padmavati held an umbrella to protect her husband in turn. This description helps us understand some of the reliefs found in early caves and mediaeval temples particularly in Karnataka and in western India.** This temple is two storied and there are three Jaina idols of Adinath, Parswanath on upper side. 1 Shah U.P. & Dliaky M.A.: Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture: p.39. * Ibid. p.39. 66 THE FEATURES OF THE PARSVANATHA-BASTHI. Parsvanatha temple is on the right of Padmavati’s temple. This Jain temple made of stone has a beautiful idol of Lord Parsvanatha Tirthankara inside it. The first temple of the early series is the southerly oriented dvitala temple of Parsvanath. The width of the Vimana is only 7 feet 9 inches and of the mandapa 14 feet 8 1/2 inches. It has most of the characteristics of Bogara basti excepting the decorative enrichment. The wall plasters show some departure from the usual design, since it drops the upper lasuna member and retains only the bell-shaped member which is decorated with leaf-motif, a feature anticipating later Karnataka temples. The nasikas of the Kutas and Salas possess in lieu of human heads, just lotus flowers in full bloom, which completely fill the gadha. The grhapindi and the Sikhara (now covered by a tiled roof) resembles those of the Bogara-basti. The four pillars in the Mahamandapa are unadorned, but otherwise similar to their counterparts in the Bogara-basti, including the taranga - potika (bracket-capital). There is, moreover, a ceiling of "asta-dikpalas' with a Yaksa figure in the central quadrant. Ceiling of this type became commoner half a century later in the other styles in Karnataka, notably those of Nolambavadi and Gangavadt9 PADMAVATI AS A YAKSI OF PARSVANATH: Parsvanatha was 23rd Jaina Thirthankara and his worship was most popular in northern as well as south India prior to Mahavira. There are 24 Jaina Thirathankaras and 9 U P. Shah & M A. Dhaky: Op.Cit., p. 189. 67 every Thirthankara had Yaksa and Yaksni. Humacha is abode of Padmavati who was Yaksi of Parsvanatha. Therefore it is not wrong to give some detail account of here. However, the worship of Padmavati was and has been very popular in Karnataka. Along with Ambika, she seems to have asserted her importance soon after the first couple of centuries of the Christian era. We may venture to suggest here that the earliest temples of Padmavati may have been erected in Karnataka and her separate images carved and enshrined in them.

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