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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2010 with funding from

University of Toronto

http://www.archive.org/details/rupamind03indi

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mmm^uMi mm^^m\BM^. mi m'k mh ^SsTiiSfSarue^SnanlaSa^stfix>jE&x:ss x&xs'^T'xxs'^i^rs u^ktis

Every Student and Lover

of. AN EXCELLENTorder of excellence as

// /" LO/

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wThe Annual Subscription is Rs. 36, which entitle members to all free publications

of the Society.Application for membership should be made to the Honorary Secietaries, SuiteNo. 12, Samavaya Mansions, Hogg Street, Calcutta.

W, THE INDIAN SOCIETY OF ORIENTAL ART. Iwi ^a| TJatron : 'mI His Excellency The Ri^ht Hon^le |I EARL OF RONALDSHAY, G.C.I.E., I^ Governor of Bengal. ^p . Ilrl6cnt: i MI Sir CHARLES KESTEVEN. |i I ^p Tfon;?. Secretaries: ||I G. N. TAGORe' Esq., & C. W. E.icOTTON, I.C.S., CLE. |^ m^ npHE Society was founded in the year 1907 with the object of cultivation by its ^Hi I members, and the promotion amongst the piiblic, of a knowledge of all branches ifip of ancient and modern Oriental Art by means of the collection by its members^ of objects of such art and the exhibition of such collections to the Society; the reading^ of papers; holding of discussions; the purchase of books and journals relating to art;Sfi correspondence with kindred Societies or Colleclors and Connoisseurs; the publicationa| of a Journal, and by such other means as the Society may hereafter determine; as also|i the furtherance of modern Indian Art by means of the holding of public loan exhibi-^ tions of objects of ancient and modern, and, in particular, Oriental Art owned by mem-ifi hers of the Society or others; the encouragement and assistance of Indian artis,ts, artp students and workers in artistic industries by, amongst other means, help given to them|i by the Society towards the disposal of their work, the holding of public exhibitions of^ works of modern Indian Art, the award of prizes and diplomas at such exhibitions,Jfi as also by such other means as the Society hereafter may determine.^ . . .^ The Society has hitherto confined its activity to the exhibition and publication ofp Indian pictures.p The Society has now been reorganised and it is now intended to augment the^ scope and work of the Society in various ways. It has now obtained a fine well-fur-^ nished suite of rooms and lecture hall in the Samavaya Mansions, Calcutta, which are^ being used for meetings and lectures. A library, specially devoted to the study of* Oriental Art, is in course of formation, and it is hoped that within a short time the^ Society will be able to afford the best facilities for the study and understanding of^ Indian Art, and to promote a wider interest in and to help in the revival of a great and^ distinctive phase of Oriental Art which is destined to play an important part in the3| world's culture in the future, as it has done in the past.

IfiS^i^ai^^^'^iH^Bi^^^^ili^^^^itltfi^^^^Bi^^^^^bfi^^ii^lfilHIi^'^^ifi^^^^Bil

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RUPAMAn IllustratedQuarterly Journal of Oriental Art

Chiefly Indian\

Edited byORDHENDRA C. GANGOLY

FOR THE INDIAN SOCIETY OF ORIENTAL ART, NO. 12, SAMAVAYAMANSIONS, HOGG STREET, CALCUTTA.

No. 3July 1920

EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE: No. 7, OLD POSTOFFICE STREET, CALCUTTA, INDIAAgents :

LONDON : LUZAC & CO., 46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.IPARIS : PAUL GEUTHNER, 13, RUE JACOB, VPTHE HAGUE : MARTINUS NIJHOFF, LANGE VpOR HOUT 9LEIPZIG : OTTO HARRASOWITZNEW YORK : E. WEYHE, 710, LEXINGTON AVENUETOKYO : MARUZEN & CO., 11 to 16, NIHDNBASHI, SANCHOjME.

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/

(7

;,3

Printed by THACKER, SPINK & CO, CaicuttaAND

Published by O. C. GANGOLY,r.t

No. 7, Ol'l Post Office Street, Calcutta.

\

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CONTENTS.\

I. A Copper Figure from NepalII. Problems of Indian Art. By William Cohn (Berlin)

III. Some Temples on Mount Abu. By D. R. Bhandarkar (Carmichael Professor, Calcutta University)

IV. Indian Art in Siam. By E. A. Voretzsch (Christiania, Norway)V. A Miniature from Kangra. By M. N. Sett (Calcutta)VI. Intuition. By Stella Bloch (New York)

RviewCorrespondence

Page.1

112123252527

All Rights of Translation and Reproduction are Strictly Reserved.

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EDITOR'S NOTE.The Editor is not responsible for the views expressed by contributors

or correspondents. And the publication of a contribution or correspond-ence shall not necessarily imply the identification of the Editor with theviews and opinions/expressed in such contribution or correspondence.

The Editor will welcome proposals for articles, provided that they aretypewritten, or quite easily legible ; he can, however, use only articleswritten by those who have a real knowledge of the subjects treated, andhas no use for articles which are compiled from other works or which con-tain no original matter.

A stamped and addressed envelope must accompany all manuscripts,of which the return is desired in case of non-acceptance. Every care willbe taken of manuscripts, but copies should be kept, as the Editor can inno case be responsible for accidental loss.

All photographs intended for publication should be printed on albu-menized silver paper, and preferably on shiny bromide paper,

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Rupees sixteen annually. Post free,rupees seventeen, in India; Foreign, rupees eighteen. Single copy, rupeesfive, post free. Owing to the state of exchange it is not possible to quotethe rate of subscription in Foreign Currency. Remittance for subscrip-tion should therefore be sent in Indian Currency.

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I.-A COPPER FIGURE FROM NEPAL.T*HE subject that we have selected forour frontispiece for this number is a

copper gilt figure from Nepal whichis of unique interest on account of itsmany peculiar features. The school ofNepalese and Tibeto-Nepalese Art is themost upstart and youngest branch ofIndian Art, which has had a remark-able career still surviving in active practicesof living craftsmen of the present day.By a curious accident, it is a branchof Indian Art best known to Europeancollectors and connoisseurs, and parti-cularly in Calcutta, where collectors ofNepalese curios are numerous, this is theonly school by which Indian Art is known andunderstood by many. We have known manycollectors whose acquaintance with IndianArt and initiations into its mysteries havebegun with a Nepalese curio. . It is wellknown that an enormous amount of trade -^carried on in Nepalese and Tibetan works ofart, the majority of which pass throughCalcutta. So that the collectors in the com-mercial capital of India had exceptionalopportunities of acquiring some of the picksof the si>oils of the Himalayan temples. Thewar had naturally thwarted the growth ofthis traffic; but the exodus of the treasuresof Tibetan and Nepalese temples hasresumed its nefarious activity again, thoughexamples of unique quality and reallyimpressive craftsmanship have latterlybecome less and less rare. Be that as itmay, the Government Art Gallery, Calcutta,owes some of its choicest treasures to theNepalese dealers. They helped to open achapter of Indian Art the existence of whichwas almost unknown twenty years ago.Indeed, some of the remarkable specimens ofNepalese metal statuary of the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries have proved to bethe most representative and even uniquemasterpieces of Indian Art, and haveoffered valuable documents with whichMr. Havell and others have successfullyadvocated the testhetic claims of Indian Art.Indeed, ft is one of the peculiar and

significant parts of the history of IndianArt that its traditions have been preservedand continued in a neighbouring Hill Stateby the skill of Newari craftsmen right up tothe twentieth century, very much in thesame manner as the Kangra artists keptalive the flame of the best traditions ofIndian Painting. This feature of the historyof Indian Art has evoked the somewhat dis-concerting, though obviously accurate, re-mark that the ^est masterpieces of IndianArt can only be tbund outside the boundariesof modern India.The outstanding feature of the examplewe have reproduced here that will strike allfamiliar with works of Tibet and Nepal isthe free, unconventional and naturalisticstyle of the treatment of the body, as well asof the posing of the figure. It is distinctlyseparate and independent from the averagetype of Nepalese or Tibetan figures. Thereis nothing here of the schematic and hieraticmanner of presentation characteristic ofTibeto-Nepalese imageseither in its pose,in the treatment of the anatomy, or in itsfacial typewhich has nothing in commonwith Nepalese statues. The other uniquefeature of the figure is its plain oval seatdevoid of any ornamentation distinguishingit from the elaborately carved lotus-seatsof Nepalese images. A further divergencefrom Nepalese figures is found in the natureand the treatment of the ornaments. In theposes of the hand and the attributes, we havesome indications which could help us toidentify the subject of the representation.The right hand is spread out with palm up-wards, much in the fashion of * varadamudra ' (the gift-bestowing attitude), andthe left hand carries a lotus with closedpetals (utpala). These are the well-knownattitudes characteristic of the Buddhistdivinity, Tara (saviouress), of whom asmany as twenty-one varieties are known.It is the most popular deity of theBuddhist pantheon, evidenced by innu-merable examples in different parts ofIndia, Tibet, Nepal and Java. There is a

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(belief current in Tibet and Nepal that Tarawas incarnate in all good women. Ourfigure is so different from all known types ofTara that some consideration is necessarybefore we could accept the identification onthe basis of the poses and attributes of thehands. The green Tara, according to ouriconological text, should have her right leghanging with the foot, supported by a smalllotus. The white Tara, again, should haveher legs crossed and interlocked in what isknown as ' badha padmasana ' (the lockedlotus-pose), with the palms of the foot shownup. Our illustration does not answer to anyof the characteristics.

Then, as a rule, in the/images of Tarathe upper part of the body' is absolutely un-covered, while in our picture a richlyembroidered cloth is placed round the chest.These significant elements of divergencesw^ill discourage our attempt to describe thefigure as of Tara. The feature of the faceand its expression are the most formidableopponent to the attribution. It has none ofthe inward introspective look and expressionwhich is the inevitable characteristic ofIndian images. The seated body is not seeinginward, but looking out with a merry twinklein her eyes which indubitably stamps herwith a human character and outlook. Onejs left to the only expedient of identifyingthe figure as the portrait of an upasika, orlay disciple and worshipper, of whom numer-ous representations abound in the Nepalesetemples. The worshippers are, however, in-variably pictured in a formal and conven-tional pose, with joint palms renderinghomage to divinity. Obviously, our examplecannot belong to that class. The icono-graphic feature of the left hand holding the

lotus (utpala) cannot be ignored and has tobe accounted for and explained. The beliefthat Tara was incarnate in all pious femaledonators and virtuous ladies may be as oldas the time of the Nepalese queen of the greatTibetan king, Sron-tsan-gampo. The greenTara was supposed to have been incarnatein the Nepalese princess, daughter of AnsuVarman, whom the Tibetan king married.If we allow ourselves to accept our figure asthe representation of the Nepalese princess,one of the human incarnations of Tara, weare able to explain both the human and theiconographic peculiarity of the figure. Wehaye noticed the merry twinkle of the eyeswhich is somewhat discounted by the graveand restrained smile which plays about thelips, and this bit of contradiction, perhaps,symbolises the antithesis of the human andthe divine element in the incarnation. Beyondthe fact that the figure was brought fromNepal by a Nepalese dealer, we have notangible data to test the accuracy or thecertainty of the supposed identification of thefigure with the portrait of the Nepaleseprincess. The general features, and parti-cularly the style and character of theornaments, protest against its derivationfrom Nepal. If it, indeed, belongs to Nepal,then it undoubtedly offers a very curious andinteresting specimen which has outgrown allthe characteristics and peculiarities that wehave learnt to associate with the school ofNepal. It is somewhat hazardous to datethe figure, particularly in view of the utterpaucity of stylistic analogies with specimensof known date. Roughly speaking, thefigure cannot be older than a century, andmay be of much later date.

II.-PROBLEMS OF INDIAN ART.By WILLIAM COHN.*

ITHE understanding of art of everynation and every epoch is retardedby nothing so much as by an

exaggerated dependence on foreign in-

fluence. It is not intended to repudiatein any way the importance of such in-vestigations from many points of view. Thepower of the national or individual imagina-tion, the originality of the design, can beestimated with the help of it.' 'But in most

* Translated for the author from the original article in German by Miss Bowifen. The Editor'sapology is due to Dr. Cohn for minor inaccuracies in the translation which have been unavoidable.

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3

cases the foreign influences are not decisive,not even in the most eclectic cases of artisticdependence; as, for instance, if we considerthe case of Rome and Japan in their rela-tionship to Greece and China. Each trait ofindividual life which one is able to discovergives one a deeper insight than the esta-blishment of a hundred dependencies. Un-fortunately, it is too frequently that artexplorers err here, and, most of all, explorersof exotic arts and culture. To quote an in-stance, seldom was in this direction afalse note struck more incorrectly than byOskar Munsterberg in his History ofChinese Art. I do not predicate that, in ageneral survey intended for a large circle,generally the chief stress must be placed inthe individual life and expression of art. Itis, however, not to be disputed that ChineseArt had to employ foreign elements, Westand North Asiatic, Classic, Indian, Persianand European. It betrays, however, so itwould appear to us, a lack of the feeling andsense of art (and without this, exploration ofart cannot be carried out) to affirm that inthe enormous domains of Chinese Art theelement borrowed from abroad is the decid-ing factor. For the exploration of ChineseArt such a treatment is, at least for thepresent, not symptomatic. That Chinesepainting^ Chinese bronze and ceramics areprobably, (in their essence), autochthonic-plants very few have, yet, been able todispute. And, in connection with this,the forthcoming work of R. F. Martinwill probably not change any of ourideas on the subject, and it may beexpected that in his work nothing lesswill be proved than " that Western Asia,Egypt, Greece and Rome have co-operat-ed in order to create (out of the exist-ing beginnings, which always revealed agreat manual dexterity) an art which we callChinese." The preceding observationsmay, however, be taken as symptomatic ofthe researches made in the field of IndianArt. The best known works on Indian Art,if they do not deal with iconographicalquestions, devote the greatest space to thestudy of foreign influences. For thematter of that, of what the real nature ofIndian Art consisted, one had up till nowvery little space left. It is only quite

recently that a change has set in, which*draws continually wider circles. It is with-out doubt that we are approaching a com-plete change in our attitude towards IndianArt. Our age of aesthetic valuation willcertainly not forget India. The leaders ofthis movement are E. B. Havell and A. K.Coomaraswamy. We will not conceal thefact that their work is not quite highly ap-preciated in the circle of the older school ofscholars. Both these writers are, in fact,more artists than scholars. The value oftheir work lies in the inspiration whichthey have for their causewhich makesthem sometimes shoot beyond the goalintheir intuitive insight into the deepestnature of Indian art-perceptions. If, how-ever, many of their views are still awaitingscientific confirmation, no future explorerwill be able to pass by their fruitful andspiritual interpretations. The explorationof Indian Art has undoubtedly received a newand strong impulse through them.

IIOn ancient Indian Art we have estab-

lished /Egean, Assyrian, Persian, Grecian,Hellenic, Roman, Chinese, Islamic andModern European influences. And, general-ly speaking, this cannot be shaken. Wehave even to suppose that in this direction(in which the study of Eastern-Asiatic, Cen-tral Asiatic and Persian Art enters morelargely) many new discoveries will yet bemade. Above all, probably Persia will stepmore prominently into the foreground.Islamic and classical influences (there thematter may rest) have survived the most.These confronted the newer art of Indiaonly since the twelfth century and in thecourse of time produced, indeed, distinctiverevolutions. But even in the domain ofIndo-Mahomedan Art a growing success hashelped to displace, gradually, ancient Indianfeatures. But here the Indian geniusseems to have been more creative than onehad up till now commonly supposed. Wedo not propose to introduce the Indo-Maho-medan Art into the present discussion anyfurther.

The greatest attention has been excitedby the Greek influences, which are so easyto perceive. Greek Art is supposed to have

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/:influenced ancient Indian Art to so higha degree that it has essentially decided itscharacter. The flying march of Alexanderthe Great to India (B. C. 327-324) is suppos-ed already to have called forth importantrevolutions. In the time of the KushanDynasty (about A.D. 45-225) falls, then, onthe Indian Borderland, Gandhara, the bloomof that art, which has been justlycalled Indo-Hellenic, and, somewhat incor-rectly, Greco-Buddhist. And from Gan-dhara a stream is supposed to have flownout, which left distinctive marks on manybranches of Indian Art. That Gandharashould have decided the aspect of EasternAsiatic Buddhist Art is here only alluded toen passim. Many scholars are constantly atwork to discover ever new cFassical traits inIndian Art; many of the discoveries cannotbe questioned. That occasionally exaggera-tions do occur is not of much importance.The classic elements are certainly mostlyvery striking. As really classic and IndianArt, in their motives, stand almost diametri-cally opposed to each other, one wouldalmost assert that even some one, who neverhad a genuine classical and genuine ancientIndian work before his eyes, would, with aneducated sense of style, discover a discre-pancy. The art of Gandhara is, indeed, parti-ally a creation of the West. The school ofMathura also shows Hellenistic traces, asalso many more indigenous schools. Indeed,at the Gupta period (4th-6th century)Greco-Roman Art may once more have at-tracted the interest of Indian craftsmen.This would not be surprising, consideringthe brisk commercial intercourse of Indiawith the Roman Empire.Should we adopt this presentation ofIndian Art, and actually study it throughspecimens and counterspecimens, then IndianArt would actually almost appear to be anout-and-out non-independent conglomera-tion, without any creative power. Indeed,thus is the picture occasionally drawn. Andfrom its own productions it is often soughtto be established in this connection that, atbest, Indian Art is, indeed, very poor.

A greater misapprehension of the realconditions is, so it would at least seem to us,difficult to imagine. The concentration uponthe foreign influences and their scope and

sphere, (apart from the application of awholly false standard), has led to this con-ception. One forgets to cast one's eyes, evenfor once, upon the ensemble of the entiregrowth, upon that development which be-comes visible to us in the time of the Em-peror Asoka (B.C. 273-231?). Then thingstake a quite different aspect. The foreigninfluence shrivels down to diminutive and in-significant elements such as no other art inthe world, not even the classic, can be said tobe entirely free from. A border provinceappears more strongly influenced; in otherprovinces the foreign elements appear spora-dically or as mere accessories. By far in thegreater and most important centres it is sonegligible that one need not waste a singleword over it. Indeed; however defective ourknov/ledge still is, without much trouble andwithout too hazardous an hypothesis, evennow an autochthonous immanent develop-ment of Indian Art can generally be recog-nized. The motifs of Indian Art appear inits broad lines, almost at all times, essen-tially intelligible in itself. To every sen-sible and perceptive mind it must be clearthat it was fundamentally Indian geniuswhich created Indian Art and drove it for-w^ard to attain to that greatness and magni-ficence which at Bharhut and Sanchi,at Karii and Amaravati, at Elura (Ellora)and Ajanta, at Mamallapuram and Java, inCambodia and Ceylon, at Bhuvaneshvar,Tanjore and Konarak, at Nellore, Madrasand Ramesvaram, and in the SouthernIndian bronzes, created imperishable anddistinctive works.One of the most significant gifts whichGandhara, and, through it, the classical art,is supposed to have made to India was (so itis always stated) the first representation ofthe historical Buddha. Not even thisachievement one should, without further in-vestigation, ascribe to Gandhara. Mattersare not so simple as they would appearat first sight. It is incontrovertiblethat the most ancient sculptural repre-sentation of this historical Buddha knownto us at the present day is to be foundin the art of Gandhara. It may alsoactually be that there for the first timethe thought struck them to erect thestatue of the historical Buddha in place

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of the symbols. This is by no means certain.Having regard to the abundance of the stillundiscovered treasures of India, possibly anearlier statue of Buddha may yet come tolight. We have yet to take another fact intoaccount. Even if the fame of Gandharashould not be under-estimated in this direc-tion, yet, perhaps, the Indian share in thisachievement may be larger than the foreignNo Buddha discovered in Gandhara signifiesa beginning. Distinctly two existingelements are united closely, the Indian andthe classical. Similar representations musthave existed before the beginning of theGandhara school. In fact, the signs andindices of the Buddha (the idea of theMahapurusha, with his 32 Lakshanams ofChakravartin) are older than Greco-Buddhist art; they are even older than thehistorical Buddha. They are, indeed, pecu-liar to Indian spiritual life, as also to theidea of the transmigration of the soul.Figures in the pose of a Buddha are foundalready plentifully on the bas-reliefs atBharhut and Sanchi. We may suppose that,besides the ancient Brahmanic deity,Lakshmi, who there, among others, is con-ceived in this manner, other Brahmanicdeities generally were represented in asimilar pose. Without the existence ofsimilar and kindred figures the adoption ofthe representations of the historical Buddhais hardly intelligible. An ancient Indianmotif seems to have been hellenised. In-deed it is quite possible that a certain groupof later representations of the Buddha couldbe traced back to an earlier prototsrpe, with-out claiming the mediation of Gandhara.

IllNever was the whole complex structurewhich we to-day call India, a political unit.Different races, different languages anddialects were and are still opposed to eachother. The different races tore themselvesto

^ pieces in an almost uninterruptedseries of wars. But at intervals peacefulperiods recurred, in which at least a greatportion of India, as we understand it to-day,was united under one sceptre. The Aryanimmigration had indeed already laid afoundation for an unity. Moreover, thespiritual and ^laterial intercourse, the unity

of the races within the continents, at all timesseems to have been sufficiently intensive inorder to produce, to a certain degree, anunited Indian culture, and in consequence ahomogeneous Indian Art. In spite of thedifferent styles which developed and perfect-ed themselves, to a certain extent, in closeproximity, Indian Art may be considered tobe an united organism. Matters have beenvery much similar to those in the mediasvalGerman Empire or Europe. Greater diver-gences did not split the unity of India. Andyet it has been possible to form a generalview of German or of European Art of theMiddle Ages without too great a violence toits different elements. And in this viewthere would be no impropriety in ignoringthe peculiar features of the different schoolsof Indian Art.The development of Indian Art has neverpartaken of that tremendous pace which,at almost all times, characterised thedevelopment of European Art (one shouldnot forget how short the Periclean ageof high renaissance was). It is justthe peculiarity of the Asiatic tempera-ment to rejoice longer and in a moreleisurely fashion in what has been acquired.Tradition, culture and reverence of thepupil for his master play quite a differentpart in India than in other countries. Yetthe development of Indian Art is sufficientlyrich and replete with life and vitality. Theassertion of a stagnation of art has beenalready proved to be erroneous as the resultof a deeper investigation in the cases of theart of China and of Japan. As regards India,the question of any stagnation cannot pos-sibly arise. Let us attempt to give here,in a few words, a cin-sory view of the totaldevelopment of Indian Art. To present it inminute details is, perhaps, not yet possible.It is difficult, indeed, for one sine'e individualto grasp more than superficially the richvariety and multiplicity of the treasures of 'Indian Art hitherto discovered. The trea-sures of many centres have not yet beenseriously investigated, nor published in ac-cessible forms. Moreover, every day bringsnew discoveries. And so it is destined toremain for a long time. Therefore, one maynot venture, as yet, to present the history ofthe development of Indian Art in exact

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C'parallelisin with the European or perhapswith the Chinese, with which it has evidentlymuch in common. Only the principal centresof the different periods can somehow bejuxtaposed and their aims indicated cursorily.The earliest of the monuments of IndianArt hitherto discovered originate from aboutthe time of Asoka (middle of the third cen-tury B. C.)* The remains are very few.Perhaps only a few of the reliefs on the rail-ing of the stupa at Bharhut can be dated sofar back. The decorations of the stupa atSanchi and Buddhagaya, the cave-templeat Udayagiri, Nasik and Karli, lead astep further. About three centuries ofIndian Art, undoubtedly of an age of greatartistic richness, have survived in a few,though quite accidental, specimens. Theytested their skill on the decoration of monu-mental works; they had, above all, a joy ingenuine and unprejudiced delineation ofIndian life and Indian nature. In sharp con-trast to these stand some of the motifs (e.g.,fabulous animals) borrowed from the West.This cannot, however, obliterate the impres-sion that these scenes, replete with direct andintimate perception, are out and out pro-ducts of Indian soil.

In the Kushan period (lst-3rd cen-tury A.D.) the workshops of Gandhara seemto have developed their principal activity,which is attested by many thousand sculp-tures surviving to-day. Also in Mathuraa school strongly influenced by the Greekideas appears to have grown up. Butthe greater number of the w^orks ofthe Mathura school, which belong tothis place, is purely Indian. Further, inthe relief of the stupa at Amaravati thefjreek element does not play any prominentpart. On the contrary, true Indian Art grewand spread itself in the joy and fullness of itslife, enriching itself in one direction, impover-ishing itself in another, as is the course ofevery development in art. In such mannerthe great art of all the flourishing periodscreated itself. The art of division ofsurfaces and the mastery of the principles of

* Mr. K. P. Jayaswal claims to have discoveredearlier examples in the so-called statues of Sisu-naga. Journal of the Behar and Orissa ,ResearchSociety, March 1919.

composition and movement were not lessonspicked up at a late stage. Amaravati, in thisrespect, represents a high level of achieve-ment. On this point one should study andinvestigate the monumental remains ofAmaravati, the greater part of which areexhibited in the Museum of Madras. Thewealth and the certainty of the revelationwill arouse ever fresh surprises. One canhardly imagine that this art being of oneuniform mould should have any particularaesthetic relation to the hybrid forms ofGandhara. Already many a document ofthe Kushan period is known, and much willyet be brought to light. The picture of atrue type of Indian Art, even out of the re-mains of the Kushan period, is yet certainlyto emerge.The next dynasty, which was able onceagain to unite under one sceptre consider-able parts of India, was that of the Gupta(4th-6th century A.D.). It is somewhathazardous to consider the three centuries ofthe Gupta period separately. The numberof monimients which to a certain degree canbe accurately dated is yet very few. Besidesthe period of the brilliant reign of KingHarsha (A.D. 606-48), the last great Indianmonarch, no work datable with accuracy hasup till now been generally known. For ourpurpose it is best to include the period fromthe fourth to about the ninth century as onelarge section.Of the little that one knows of thedetails of the art of these 500 years,so much is sure, that the zenith ofIndian Art generally is to be lookedfor within this period. What magni-ficent monuments have been preserved!How much have perished! How muchwill yet come to light! Let us onlyrefer to the most imposing specimens whichwithout any reservation may be placed sideby side with the highest accomplishmentsof the art of the world. We can begin ourhasty survey with the temple at Deogarhwhich must have been erected early in theGupta period. During the same period, also,came into existence the most importantCave and Rock temples of Ajanta with theircharming paintings and Elura and Badamiwith their vital sculptures and refineddecorations. In the West of India, the

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rocks of Elephanta awoke to artistic lifeand preserve, up till to-day, almost un-touched, one of the grandest representationsof a deity that exists on earth. OnlyEgypt was capable of producing a somewhatanalogous conception. The oldest templesof Bhuvaneshvar, according to Gothicmanners, teem with sculptures glowing withpassion and inexhaustible variety of orna-ments, in innumerable towers (Vimana)pointing towards heaven, belong probably tothis period. In the South of India thePallavas were at the helm. Rulers of thisdynasty deserve the gratitude of posterityfor the Rock-Temples (Ratha) and sculp-tures of Mamallapuram (Mavalipuram,Seven Pagodas). The KailasanathaTemple at Kanchi (Conjeevaram) even to-day testifies to the great splendour of theirhabitations. Polonnaruwa, the capital ofCeylon, must have stood, at that time, in itsflourishing epoch. The monuments in Java(Boroubudur). and Cambodia (Angkor)were evidently begun at the same time.They rival each other by the magnitudeand by the uniformity of their artisticaccomplishments, and captivate every visitorto these ruins. The beauty of these monu-ments is not at all sufficiently known, anda detailed study has only just begun.

All these creations have distinctlycommon traits,magnificence of conceptioncoupled with supreme command over mate-rials, superb equilibrium of composition anda joyous delineation executed in powerfulproportions, richness in decoration with in-exhaustible imagination. All representa-tions are with a mighty sweep transportedout of the reach of the common and liftedup into an atmosphere in which only godscan breathe.

It is, indeed, strange that only recentlyone is beginning properly to recognise thesurpassing position of these periods in thehistory of Indian Art. One did know,nevertheless, long ago that India's literatureat that time experienced a renascence here-tofore unknown and that the country alsostood politically on a extraordinary height.A series of the most distinguished rulerswere at the* helmSamudragupta I (diedabout 375 A.D.) was not only one of theenterprising princes but also one of the

most cultured Indian monarchs. Wijkh'the Court of Chandragupta II, Vikrama-ditya (at the close of the fourth cen-tury), the famous Indian poets seem tohave been closely associated and wereidealised as the precious gems of Sans-krit literature. Kalidasa is the mostfamous name among them. The Empire ofKing Harsha (606-48) was nearly just ascomprehensive as that of Asoka. TheChinese travellers who, at that time, visitedIndia give us informations about manyIndian towns: Pataliputra, at that timecapital of the Guptas; Ujjain, the very an-cient trading place; Kanauj, the seat ofHarshavardhan; Kanchi, the capital of theSouth Indian Pallavas. Nalanda, the uni-versity town, must have belonged to themost brilliant centres of the world at thattime.And to India of these centuries theforeign contemporaries seem indeed tohave ascribed an honourable position.It was not for nothing that the greedyeyes and wishes of the Huns weredirected again and again towards it. Notin vain did China repeatedly send out evernew pilgrims to India. The most tangibleevidence of the appreciation of Indian cul-ture in the Far Eastern world is possibly thefact that the Chinese Buddhistic Art of theT'ang-period (602-907), to a considerabledegree, bowed to Indian influence. It is notthe school of Gandhara, as is often main-tained, but Indian Art of these five hundredyears, that has left its fingermarks on theChinese Buddhistic Art of the T'ang period,and along with it, also, to a certain extenton Japanese Art of the Nara period (719-84). An exclusive concentration on theGandhara school, to the utter neglect ofall other centres, could only obscure thesevery clear facts, which should have beendeduced long ago from general con-siderations.

Should one wish to attain a point ofview of the last period of the activity ofIndian Art (10th-18th century), one hadbest of all think of the Post-Gothic or thebaroque of European development. Artmotifs with everything that is attractive andeverything that is repulsive, with facileornaments and exaggerations, with all

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^possible crowds of decorations and over-load-ing of these styles, seem to govern laterIndian Art. And the masterpieces are, itappears, quite as densely or sparingly

distri-buted as in Europe, just according to thepoint of view one takes up towards thebaroque style. In any event, quite a seriesof unique creations have been preserved. Letus allude only to the most imposing speci-mens. North-Indian (Aryavarta, IndoAryan) style and South Indian (Dravidian)style, the two chief Indian styles of thepast epoch and known only in sporadicexamples, speak to us in the period underreview in an abundance almost impossibleto overlook. Most of tjie temples ofBhuvaneshvar, the Temple of Khajuraho,the Jagannath of Puri, the sun-temple ofKonarak with its very plethoric representa-tions of sensual love carved m stone, cameinto existence in the earlier centuries. Notmuch later sprang up many Jaina Temples inKathiawar, Guzrat and Rajputana, in which,as opposed to the temples of Orissa, even theinterior walls, pillars, and ceilings are pro-fusely overlaid with sculptures and decora-tions. The Jaina Temples on Mount Abubelong to the less pure style of Indian archi-tecture which are not even missed in the re-pertoire of the globe-trotter.

In South India with its still flourishingtemple-cities, the big temple of Tanjore,first of all, deserves mention. In the thir-teenth century Vijayanagar was the capitalof the most powerful South Indian Empirewhich was able to offer resistance to theIslamic invasions. Many ruins testify tothe splendour of the city. Certain othertemples at Kumbhakonam, Conjeevaram,Vellore and Srirangam belong to this period.The most renowned are the South Indiantemples of the later centuries in their some-what lavish trappings. The well-preservedbuildings of Madura, Tanjore and Rames-varam, with their massive pyramid-towers(Gopuram) studded with figures, and thenever-ending passages and pillar-hallscrowded with Brahmins, conjure up themost vivid picture of religious life beforeour eyes which India is able to offer today.During the period between the 12th and the17 th century, the Saivaite brontes now inthe Museums of Madras and Colombo may

have been cast. The dancing Siva ofthe Madras Museum, with its wonderfulrhythm so different from the classicstandard, will impress more specially on thestudents of the present age in search of theideals of art.

IVIt is very well known how heavily the

grave criticism of certain periods of Euro-pean Art had to suffer and are still sufferingowing to the exaggerated position given tothe classic and high-renaissance ideals asuniversally authentic standards of all art.How utterly impossible it must have beenfor the artistic achievements of exoticnations to obtain a footing in the council ofthe worshippers of classical standard, andto this must also be added the prejudice withthe usual exaggerated conceit of the Euro-pean, who in the depth of his heart felt andstill feels himself to be the supreme custodianof all truth, morality and beauty. Indian Arthad, perhaps, the most difficult position toface. Because Indian Art, so it was thought,in the school of Gandhara and in its rami-fications, has, as it were, itself acknowledgedthe supremacy of the Greek standard. Agross error ! The truth rather lies the otherway about. The whole development ofIndian Art proves that the Greek ideal madeonly a superficial impression in India. Andyet almost everywhere Indian Art imme-diately reverted to its indigenous ideals.How could it have been otherwise? TheIndians v/ere, indeed, no classically culturedphilologists to whom everything Greek musthave appeared sacred. How could theauthors of the Upanishads, the believers inMahayana, the followers of Siva, Vishnuand the Sakti, in their unhistorical mind havehad any sympathy for the entirelydifferently oriented bent of mind? IndianArt stands much in the same relation toGreek Art as, perhaps, the Mahayanasutra,the Puranas and the Tantras stand toGrecian literature. In this has also tobe found the potent and vital reasonfor the spiritual vacuity and inanity ofmost of the creations of the Gandhara.Denationalised Hellenists or denationalisedIndians were their authors. The firstdid not understand the new surroundings,

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the latter, nd^ the foreign intruder.Greek Art (and through it, EuropeanArt, in so far as it depends on it) andIndian Art are poles asunder. One feelsthis at every comparison. Yet it is not easyto indicate and to describe the differences ina few words. Ancient Greek Art is no morefor us a homogeneous structure, it has gonethrough a long and greatly varied develop-ment, and so has Indian Art. In anotherplace we have made an attempt to charac-terize the divergence of the art motifs withrather imperfect success. Perhaps here wemay approach a step further.

Accuracy of observation and intuitiveexuberance stand opposite to each other,striving after objective truth and aftersubjective expression. Antique Greek Artproceeds from the human body andallows spiritual expression to come tolife in the face at the most; IndianArt proceeds from the spiritual andcompels the merely physical to standback and exalts the body (even in the mostweakest representation of physical love).When Greek Art introduces movements andgestures, these are there mostly on accountof the problems of forms, or becausethey are necessary for the achievement of acertain action. Indian Art makes use of themovements of the human body and those ofits limbs, above all, for the representation ofspiritual expression. This spiritual characterpervades not only (and indeed often in a nottoo accentuated degree) in the features ofthe face, but quite as much or more stronglyin the characteristic gestures (arms, handsand fingers), in the inclination of the head,in the flexions and directions of the body,indeed, in the position of the legs and feet.These motives are for Indian Art the accen-tuated problems (and they are its specialpeculiarity), but not the organic representa-tion of the human body, its anatomy, theplay of the muscles, the functions ofthe joints. All this is often completelyneglected, because the artist did not at allwish to represent the same. The former artIS at its basis tectonic and imitative, thelatter lineal and expressive.

The contrasts and divergences which (ormore accurately the directions of which) wehave hitherto tried to indicate, lie within the

sphere of an art which is essentially 'ipre- ;j^occupied with realism. The Indian has,however, taken another step, whichthe artist of the European antique schooldoes not know at all or only in its rudiments.Exactly as in Egypt, the motive was to worktowards an abstract monumental art tocreate a real representation of the Divineand the Celestial. The human body ceasesaltogether, as it were, to play a part of itsown,it is brought down to be a mere meansfor visualising divine symbols to humaneyes and the devotion of men. In this direc-tion the Indian has, perhaps, executed hishighest accomplishments. The Buddhisticcaves of Ajanta and Elura, the sculptures ofwhich are still so little known, contain re-presentations of deities, beside which theEuropean achievements appear almostinsignificant. Let us refer again to theTrimurti of Elephanta which we havealready cited. Only an art of which thephysical body was never the aim, is in aposition to aspire to such symbols of deities.Being fully acquainted with these facts, itbecomes also immediately intelligible thatIndian Art, without any trouble, was led tothe multiplication of limbs and to giganticdimensions and to combinations of differentclasses of beings,attempts which, althoughfound in Europe, have fundamentallyremained foreign to European Art. Chinaand Japan joined in their presentationsof deities in the same direction. Letus emphasise here that they were peculiarto the flourishing period of the Indian ex-pression; to Gandhara Art our detailscorrespond only to a very small degree.One should think of thx Chinese andJapanese Dai-Batsu and o.r-ifie entirepantheon of Chen-yen-tsun^(Shingon)sect.With the lack of all scientifically-ana-tomical aims in Indian Art, naturally, is alsoassociated the fact that in representationsof scenes, the perspective in the Europeansense has no place. As for the Chinese andJapanese, so also for the Indian, artistic andimpressive space composition counts foreverything, but hardly, the representation ofdimension. Just as anatomical truth, so alsowas perspective truth not the aim of IndianArt.

J I

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% fn the face of the many divergences thethie'- directions of which have been pointedout here, it would seem almost incompre-hensible how one Could judge and measureIndian Art with the same standard as Euro-pean Art. A criticism or explanation inthis connection in terms of scientificaccuracy is absolutely worthless. Onlyaccording to immanent principles, that is tosay, only by values created by itself, it has tobe measured. It is aesthetically irrelevantwhether a figure bars many heads, legs orhands. The question is only this,fromamong the endless rows of many-headedfigures to find out the artistically mostvaluable. It is immaterial whether a sceneis represented " correctly " from the pointof view of perspective; it i^ only importantthat it is animated from within. Just as theIndian question belongs to those problemswhich are most involved and most difficultto solve, which the politics of the moderntime presents, so also may Indian Art be themost rich in riddles among the arts of manynations, the study of which the presentgeneration has taken up. We havein the preceding paragraph touched, natural-ly, only upon a few of the principal problems.And let it be emphasised once more thatfewer solutions can be offered, rather thanindications in which direction these solutionsshould be looked for. How much time willyet pass until the examples hinted at by uswill be treated without demur and prejudiceand in an exhaustive manner? How greatis the number of the problems which wehave simply passed by? How did thebeginnings of Indian Art appear? Every-where it impress us as a picture completedto a cet tSitkJSs^ree. It must be much olderthan the mo&t ancient monuments known.Nothing has been preserved from the tirn^before Asoka. We must presume thatflimsiness or preciousness of materials em-ployed (bricks, earth, wood, ivory, andmetals of every description) ordained anddesigned all earlier works for destruction.The style of those preserved and the literarysources offer many points for this conten-tion. Why are all the known ancientmonuments Buddhistic? Could there nothave been a pre-Buddhistic,a BrahminicArt? Impossible. The sources testify

against this. And withiirthe most ancientBuddhistic art are found quite a group ofancient Brahminic deities and motives. Arewe to suppose that only Buddhistic mastersintroduced these motives into art? Whatpart is to be assigned to the Dravidian racesin Indian culture and art? Their mostoldest creations of art, known up to date,date only from the 7th century. But thatthe Dravidians stood already on a certainstage of culture when the Aryan tribesbegan to immigrate into India, is beyonddoubt. What did their more ancient artlook like? For various reasons it may beconceded that its importance in the domainof plastic art has to be estimated more highlythan has hitherto been done. Perhaps,among the Indian races the Aryans were thethinkers, the Dravidians were the craftsmen.In what relationship do the ancient Indianstyles of architecture in general stand toeach other? Were they developed upon acommon basis or from different centres?Or did they come into existence from thepartial fusion of different styles? No onehas yet studied the entire growth of Indiandecorative art. How did its developmentterminate? How strong was the inventivepower of the Indian imagination in decora-tive works? What share is to be assignedto foreign elements within its entire career?Who created the art of Java and Indo-China? Here, also, we stand suddenlyfacing a full-grown art, which is certainlydependent on India, and yet has much thatis its own. Neither the pantheon ofHinduism nor that of the Mahayana, bothof great magnitude, have been exhaustivelyexamined as to their origin and development,or, perhaps, have only been just piecedtogether. No one has yet explained in areally adequate manner all its mysteriousmotives. How are the representations ofthe freest erotic art to be explained icono-graphically, which cover the temples ofOrissai? For the present totally contra-dictory explanations are standing oppositeto each other. All these problems, not tospeak at all of many detailed questions, arestill awaiting scientific treatment.The number of those who *re workingat the problems of research in Indian Art isalso very limited in F-i5rland and irr India.

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At the Universities, with the exceptions of alimited few, none is occupied with the Indianas with the Chinese and Japanese Art.The philological and ethnological stand-points, as opposed to these aspects of cul-tures, are, yet, almost all-engrossing. Thefew investigators who at least casuallywere occupied with Indian Art discouragenew work rather than encourage it. A realpresentation of the history of Indian Art or

of one of its branches does not exi }t ar ;dcannot yet exist. That which has be*, n pro-duced on the basis of what is known ti-daycan hardly be regarded as completelysatisfactory. The work of the DirectorGeneral of Indian Archaeology, Sir JohnMarshall, which is shortly to appear as apart of the Cambridge History, may, per-haps, lead a step further.

IIl-SOME TEMPLES ON MOUNT ABU.By D. R. BHANDARKAR.

^^T 'ARCHITECTURE," says Le Bon,I " est beaucoup plus fille de larace que des croyances " (Archi-

tecture is more a product of the racethan of creeds). And notwithstandingthe artificial, and in some cases mis-leading, classifications of Indian Art intoreligious groups, Indian Art, as such, is, inthe main, independent of variations in creed.And a student of Indian Art is likely to missthe psychology and significance of thehistory of art in India if he fails to realisethe non-sectarian character of the maincurrent of Indian craft traditions. And inmany cases it is an absurd solecism tocharacterise any style as " Buddhistic,"" Jaina," or " Hindu " merely from the acci-dent of its employment under the service ofany of these creeds, the fact being thatpractically the same general principles andcanons of art have been employed in theservice of different and even antagonisticcreeds. Thus many forms of cave templeswhich were applied to meet the demands ofBuddhist religion have also been employedto answer the requirements of Saiv?worship. Thus the celebrated SevenPagodas of Mamallapuram dedicated to theworship of Siva may be deduced from ana-logous forms used at Ellora for the edifica-tion of Buddhist or Jain creeds. Thecanons of craftsmanship were Indian first,and became Buddhist, Hindu, or Jaina after-wards, according to the patronage for thetime being received from the adherents ofone or other of these creeds. From this pointof view, strictly speaking, there is no Bud-dhist or Jaina architecturethough there areva.ious I--- variations of style and also, in

a few cases, a certain fundamentaldivergence in forms and ideals of architec-tural conception. And any particular style,however closely it may be associated with aparticular creed, cannot logically becharacterized as the necessary product ofthat creed. In this way the style of archi-tecture that occurs in many Jaina placesof pilgrimage, e.g., Palitana, Satrunjaya,Girnar and Mount Abu, cannot be correctlydescribed as a " Jaina style," as Fergussonwas led to call it by its association with Jainaworship. Yet the temples at these famousshrines offer some common characteristicsand features which, though not originatingfrom Jain creeds, may have developed suchcommon features under the patronage ofJaina merchants of Guzrat. Curiouslyenough, these common features of the so-called " Jaina style " are shared by such aw^ell-known Hindu shrine as the famoustemple of Somnath, which is situated only49 miles south of the hill of Girnar, and alsoby the sun-temple at Mudhera. ThoughBrahmanical temples, they 'II -"str?.te the styleemployed by the Jains in Guzrat from the10th to the 13th century, the most typicallydeveloped examples of which are offered bythe famous temples erected by Tejpal andVimala Shah on Mount Abu. On the otherhand, we find that at Ellora the Jains haveemployed the Dravidian temple forms ofSouthern India. Under the circumstancesit is almost impossible to claim for the Jainatemples a specially original character.But although the many component featureswhich make the so-called " Jaina style " whatit is, have been derived from earlier architec-tural practices, the homogeneous mingling

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is thef le peculiarities in an imposing form notmet V ith elsewhere cannot but be associatedwith, the activity of the Jaina builders who,if they have not originated a style, certainlyhelped towards a fresh development and anew presentation of familiar and well-known architectural forms. Indeed, as Mr.Havell points out that " the Jains in theirtemple building usually followed the struc-tural tradition of the Brahmanical sects(Indian Architecture, 1913, p. 16), and if wecompare any of the Jaina temples with theearliest types of Hindu shrines (videPlan) we find that the fundamental struc-tural elements are the same. We have firstthe nucleus of the temple in the " garvagriha " ("holy of holies ") the primitivecell in which was located the image orobject of v^orship; then a space cor-responding to what is known as " antarala,"and then the " mandapam," the hall forthe worshippers; and finally, surroundingthese three units, we have the circumbulat-ing passage, the " pradakshina "which inits turn is enclosed by the " prakara," or thewalled enclosure, which is often honey-combed with innumerable minor shrines.This fundamental unity of Indian templearchitecture is also emphasized by otherwriters. James Burgess, to whom we owevarious publications on the antiquities ofGuzrat, has observed: " The style of architec-ture which is so prevalent in Western Indiahas sometimes been called, from certain of itsbest known examples, the Jaina or Guzratstyle. It was not, however, in any waymore a Jaina style than a Brahmanical one.The prevalence of the Jains, and the templesthey buJlJJb'tV^ /Je eleventh century at Abuand elsewher^ in Guzrat, has led to thismisnomeras if it were the style of the sect.The fact is that it is the style of a geogra-phical area and almost of a periodfor theBrahmanical temples at Siddhapur, Sonma-tha and Ambarnatha are built in the samestyle as those of the Jainas at MountAbu and Bhadresvara, and it is this style,adapted to Muhammadan wants, that wefind at a later date characterizing the build-ings of Ahmedabad, Champaner, Dholka andother Mussalman cities of Guzrat. It hasaffinities with the Chalukyan style developedin the Dekhan, but is that employed in the

Rajput Kingdom of Rajputana and in theDekhan during the tenth and followingcenturies (Burgess, " The Antiquities ofDabhoi," 1888, pages 1 & 2).The temples of Rajputana and Guzratbelong to one of the two parallel currentsof the same building epoch to which we owethe most magnificent monuments of UpperIndia before the invasion of Mahomedanculture. The period between the 10th andthe 13th centuryduring which the GangaKings were erecting the Sikhara Temples inOrissaexactly synchronises with the cor-responding building activity in Guzrat,which practically begins with the Jaintemples at Palitana (960 A.D.) and endswith the Tejpal Temple at Mount Abu (1231A.D.), thus including within the span theSikhara Temples at Khajaraho. Themodels of the Tejpal Temple persisted a fewyears more in later imitations which carrythe tradition of the school upto about theend of the 13th century. The most activepart of the career of this school thus fallsbetween 1031 A.D., the date of Vimala Shah'sTemple at Mount Abu, and 1254 A.D., thedate of the temples at Dabhoi. A peculiarsignificance is attached to these two datesand may help us to understand the cause ofthe peculiar intensity of its fertile buildingepoch. It begins, so to speak, within sevenyears from the sack of Somnath by Mahmudof Ghazni (1024 A.D.) and ends within afew years of the invasion of Guzrat byAllauddin Khiliji (1297 A.D.). The out-rageous desecration and destruction . of thefamous temple of Somnaththe fabulousmagnificence of which has never been sur-passedmust have lashed into extraordinaryfury the fire of faith which set to work, withunflinching resolve, to rebuild the temple atSomnath, with an energy which soonbrought to life a virile school of templebuilding which flowered out in the magni-ficent examples at Mount Abu. In thesegreat Jaina temples are crystallised, as itwere, the aspiration and the dynamic con-sciousness of a great era of national lifecharacterized by the fine frenzy of a reli-gious zeal which flared up by . a furiouscontact with an iconoclastic faith. Yet itwould be somewhat nisleadlng to at^emplto explain the gems of Jaini. and H!ndu

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\ 13architecture of this period by regardingthem as the mere product of the retaliationof an outraged religious faith. Mahmud'sinvasion only stimulated and intensified thecharacter of the activity which existed, longprior to the invasion, in the Hindu shrine ofSomnath and many other Saiva temples ofthe ninth and tenth centuries and also inmany Jaina shrines at Palitana and Girnar inGuzrat. The group of temples on MountAbu was not an isolated phenomenonbutthe logical outcome and culmination of along period of artistic activity having aninteresting history spreading over threecenturies. During this period the sword ofIslam had a somewhat regenerating effectupon the Jaina and Hindu culture which itsought to uproot. One of the obvious re-sults of the Mahomedan invasion was thechange that it wrought in the nature of thepatronage of art. Hitherto the foundationand endowment of the temples appear tohave been the peculiar privilege of royalpatrons. In most cases the donor andbuilder of temples were invariably royalpersonages. During the period, we havebeen considering here, the patronage passedinto the hands of merchants and humblersubjects. Most of the imposing Jaina edi-fices arose under the munificent patronageof Jaina Banias. And the temples on MountAbu are very characteristic and typicalexamples of architecture of the people, asopposed to architecture of kings. Beforewe proceed to study the Jaina temples onMount Abu, it may be useful to make afew remarks on the antiquity of the place,which seems to suggest that it was not inany sense a peculiarly Jaina site although thearchitectural magnificence of the Jainabuilders put to shade the contributionsmade by the followers of other religions.Abu is the modern form of the Sans-krit Arbuda, which hill we find mentionedeven in so early a work as the Mahabharata.The mythical origin of the place is thus des-cribed. In the golden days of old when thegods visited the earth and mingled freelywith mortals, the spot, where Abu nowstands, was beloved of Siva and of the thirty-three crores of Hindu gods. With themsages also shared this spot, which was alevel r^ain, 8t- Ichincf away to the Aravallis.

There was, however, a great fissure ofunfathomable depth in the ground of hisplain. One day the cow of Sage Vasishthafell into this abyss. In distress the greatsage called on the sacred river, Saraswati,to help him. She responded to the call, andthe cow was saved by a miraculous rise ofthe waters, which carried her up to thesurface of the ground. The sage, fearinga repetition of the accident, besought thegod, Siva, then in the Kailasa, for relief ina permanent form. Siva told him to be-seech Himachala, called all his sons togetherand enquired which one of them wouldvolunteer to fill up the depth. The youngestson, Nandivardhana, came forward toundertake the mission. Being lame, hedesired to be carried on the back of hisfriend, Arbuda, a dragon. Whereupon thesage, Vasishtha, besought the help of thedragon, Arbuda, and promised that the hillwhich was to fill up the abyss would benamed after him, and not after Nandivar-dhana. Thus united, the dragon and Nandi-vardhana left the Himalayas, reached thefissure, and plunged themselves into theabyss. It was so deep that only Nandivar-dhana's nose was visible, while the dragon'swrithings made the mountain quake. Oncemore he invoked his god's help; and from hisshrine at Kasi, Visvesvara extended his footthrough the earth till his toe appeared onthe summit of the mountain. The hill cameto a standstill and swayed no longer. Thusthe great chasm was filled up, and a majesticmountain appeared in its stead, which wasnamed, as stipulated, after the dragon andcame to be called " Arbuda."

There are as many as fi*^ jV in/t'.e^t andsacred places on Mount Abu. jit is impos-sible to give even a cursory idea of them allwithin the space at our disposal. The mostimportant of them, and, above all. those ofgreat archaeological interest, shall alone benoticed here. The hill is noted for thebeauty and diversity of its landscape. Oneof the most beautiful objects of nature onMount Abu is the Nakhitalao, which lies closeto the station in the midst of the lofty hills.The lake is locally believed to have beenexcavated by the nails of the Rishis. Henceit derives 'its nameNakhitalao, or "nail-lake." There are several rocky islands inw

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14 Jthe lake which add greatly to the beauty ofih', scenery. The lake is held sacred by theHindus who perform pilgrimages by walk-ing around it, drinking from it, and wash-ing and bathing in it.The Jainas, and, among the Hindus, theSaivas, seem to be the only sects who culti-vated a love of the picturesque. It is hardly,therefore, to be wondered at that MountAbu was early fixed upon both by the Saivasand the Jainas as one of their sacred places.There is scarcely any secluded and well-Wooded spot on this sacred hill which hasnot been appropriated by these sects fortheir worship. We shall take the Saivasfirst. On the western slope of Abu and notfar from the road which leads to Anadra isa group of temples known as Karodidhaj.A lovelier site for these structures it is diffi-cult to find on the hill. Just near theentrance porch is a roughly hewn standingfigure of a Banjara, who is said to haveamassed a fabulous wealth and styledKarodidhaj (the pinnacle of Crores) for thatreason. It was he who built this cluster oftemples, most of which are of marble. Theprincipal temples are those of Patalesvara,Kotisvara and Kali, and are thus dedicated toSaiva worship. They belong to the tenthcentury A.D., but the spires of them all aremodern work.Not far from Karodidhaj, on the slopesof Mount Abu, are the shrines of Devanganawhich are now in a ruinous condition. Thepath from Karodidhaj to Devangana is ofthe most rugged kind. The temples aresituated in a picturesque place, and a morepicturesque s^ene on this hill cannot befound. In '

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M 15five are of the S\ etambara and one of theDigambara sect. The Digambari templehas no architectural pretensions and conse-quently does not deserve even a passingnotice here. Of the five Svetambaritemples, the most important are the templesof Vimala Shah and Tejapala. The remain-ing three are the temple of Santinatha,the temple of Adinatha, and the Chaumukhatemple. The first of these, viz., the templeof Santinatha, is an insignificant structure,exciting no interest. The temple of Adi-nath, though bigger and more preten-tious, Creates no interest at all, especiallyin one who has seen those of VimalaShah and Tejapala. Such is not, how-ever, the case with the Chaumukhatemple (Fig. 8). In the first place,it creates some iconographic interest,because it contains four images of one andthe same Tirthankara facing the fourcardinal directions, the Tirthankara, in thiscase, being Parsvanatha. Secondly, thearchitectural efFect of the temple is quiteimposing, it being massive and symmetrical,the tessellated pavement of the porch alsoadding to the general effect. The type ofthe structure is somewhat peculiar, havingfour faces (" chaumukha ") each opening outon a 'quadrangle. This is a characteristicdevelopment of the Guzrat style under thepatronage of the Jaina builders. This pecu-liar arrangement has some claims to be calleda specially " Jaina style," as it does not ap-pear to occur in connection with any Brah-manical temples. The Chaumukha temple issaid to have been built of stones that wereleft unused after building the principaltemples by the artisans, and is hence alsocalled the artisans' temple. The temples ofVimala Shah and Tejapala will next claim ourattention. It will be useful to preface ourstudy with a few remarks on the builders ofthese magnificent monuments.About the beginning of the 11th centuryA.D. Mount Abu and the surrounding countrywas ruled over by a chief called Dhanduka,who belonged to the Paramara family.Paramara, we know, corresponds to the pre-sent Rajput clan Painvar. His overlordwas Bhimaraja, who was of the Chaulukyaor Solsvnaki dynasty founded in Guzrat byMulariija about 941 A.D. When Bhimaraja

(1022 to 1064 A.D.) was reigning at Anahila-pura or Anahilawada (modern Patm inNorth Guzrat), some friction arose bet\'eenDhanduka and Bhima, and to escape his over-lord's anger Dhanduka fled to Dhar and tookrefuge with its ruler, Bhoja. And to keepcontrol over the Paramara territory, Bhimasent Vimala Shah to Abu as his Dandanayaka,or commander of forces. Vimala Shah was aPorwar Bania (banker) by caste and Jainaby religion. According to the popular legend,Vimala Shah was visited in his dream by hisfamily goddess, Ambika, who commandedhim to build near her shrine a temple ofRishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara. Butthe place over .which the shrine of Ambikastood had already been occupied by Brah-manical temples,' and to obtain the buildingssite from the Brahmans, Vimala Shah had tocover it with gold coins, as the price of theacquisition. The site was purchased, andthe temple was constructed at an expense,we are told, of 18 crores and 53 lacs. Ac-tording to Colonel Tod who was the firstEuropean to visit Mount Abu, Vimala Shah'stemple is " the most superb of all the templesin India, and there is not an edifice besidesthe Taj Mahal that can approach it." Histemple at Mount Abu is called after him,Vimala-Vasahi, and was completed in A.D.1031. It appears from the inscriptions thatthe image of Rishabhanath was installedimmediately on the completion of the temple.A part of this temple was destroyed by theMussalmans, but was restored by twobankers, Lalla and Bijar, in 1321 A.D.during the reign of Chaukan Maharao TejSingh. To Vimala Shah is also attributed thesplendid group of temples al Kumbhariya onthe Arasur hill, near the celebrated Brah-manical shrine of Amba BhavaAi. Tejapalawas also a Porwar Bania by caste, and aJaina by faith. He was, like his brother,Vastupala, a minister of Virdadhavala, whobelonged to the Vaghela branch of theSolanaki family which reigned at Dhola inthe Ahmedabad district of the Bombay Pre-sidency. Vastupala and Tejapala were re-sidents of Palan, and they had, as Jainarecords go, spent about 372 crores 72 lacs 18thousand and 8 hundred in works of reli-gious chaYity and public utility. We alsofind their names associated with a

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magnificent triple temple on Mount Girnar inKathiawar. To Tejapala is also attributedthe restoration of many Saiva temples. OnMount Abu, however, Tejapala built thetemple in memory of his son Luniga andcalled it " Luniga Vasati." The templeitself was consecrated in 1230 A.D., i.e., twocenturies after the date of Vimala Shah'stemple. Sobhanadeva is the name of themaster builder who was commissioned byTejapala to carry out his architectural ambi-tions. This temple- was damaged by theMahomedans, probably during the raids ofAUauddin Khiliji, and was repaired, alongwith Vimala Shah's temple in 1321 A.D. bythe bankers under the superintendence ofPethada, the master of the guild of archi-tects of the time.The erection of the temple of Neminathis generally associated with the two brothers,Tejapala and Vastupala, although the in-scriptions only ascribe the erection and en-dowment to Tejapala. There is no doubt,however, that Vastupala had a very activeshare in raising this monument. Indeed, ac-cording to the records of history, Vastupalafigures more in contemporary chronicles, asthe most generous patron of all the arts anda prolific builder of public places and temples.His deeds are sung by more than one poet.He was himself a gifted poet and his fametravelled to all parts of India and extractsfrom his poems occur in many anthologies.He was a liberal patron of the poets, themost well-known being Arisinha, Harihara,Jinnaharsa and Somesvara, the last twoof whom have immortalized their patronand his deeds in eulogistic poems (Kirti-kaumudi and Vastupal-charita). ToVastupala is also attributed the build-ing of thre^ great libraries. His firstoutburst of poetry took the form of ahymn in the praise of Adinath on the Satrun-jaya Hills on his first visit to the famousJaina temple where he erected a shrine. Ifwe do not accept the extravagant statementsof his bardic chroniclers, there cannot beany doubt that the number of temples hebuilt or restored must have been numerousAccording to one account, his benefactions totemples and shrines numbered forty-three.He favoured all creeds and sects "and evenrestored Saiva temples and built mosques for

Mahomedans. Besides the temples atMount Abu, he built the following importanttemples: (1) Temple of Adinath at Dholka;(2) The Indramandapa before the temple ofAdinatha and two new temples, one of Nemi-nath and one of Parsvanath, at Satrunjaya;(3) Three temples, one of Parsvanath, one ofNeminath, and a remarkable triple templededicated to Mallinath at Girnar. The listof temples he restored is too long to recapi-tulate. Of works of public utility, thenumber of tanks for drinking water and rest-houses attributed to him are numerous.We will now proceed to study thetemples. Externally the features of thetemples are perfectly plain and one is totallyunprepared for the splendour, the delicacyand richness of the carvings and ornamentswhich decorate the interiors and which willmeet the stupefied gaze of the surprisedvisitor. A passing familiarity with thegeneral arrangement and plans of thetemples is an instructive introductionto the beauties of the interior. Fromthe plan here reproduced, it will beevident that the general arrangementin both the temples is practically thesame, except in the placing of the por-trait gallery which is within the enclosure inTejpal's temple, while in Vimala Shah'stemple it is outside the principal enclosure(prakara). The only other noticeable differ-ence is that the one faces the north and theother the south. Both the temples repro-duce the style and arangement of the oldertemple of Neminath at Girnar (Fergusson^Indian Architecture, Vol. II, WoodcutNo. 280). Though varying in minor detailsthe arrangement and the general design ofconstruction are practically identical, andthey may be taken to represent completelydeveloped and typical examples of Jainatemples from the 11th century onwards.Each of the temples stands in its walledcourt, in the centre of which is the main cell(garva-griha) with the image of theTirthankara to whom the temple isdedicated. In the case of Vimala Shah'stemple, the shrine contains a large brazenimage of Rishabhanath or Adinath, thefirst Tirthankara, with jewelled eyes andwearing a necklace of brilliants, ^o theshrine is attached a " gudha ^mandapA " or

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closed hall with two side porches. In thefront is a platform which, with the shrineand the closed hall, is raised three stepsabove the surrounding court (Fig. 6). Infront of the platform is a " sabhamandapa,"or assembly-hall, supported by 48 free-stand-ing pillars. The eight central of these pillars,again, are so arranged as to form an octagonsupporting a dome. The octagonal dome isthe most important and imposing feature ofthe temple. The central and the assembly-hall are enclosed in an oblong courtyardsurrounded by a double colonnade of smallerpillars forming porticos or rather corridorsto a range of cells, 52 in number. The cellswith the colonnaded passage running in frontof them are situated on a platform slightlyhigher than the assembly-hall. In each of the52 cells are installed seated images of Jinas.On many of the doors of these cells are dona-tive inscriptions, some of which are dated acentury later than the erection of the maintemple. The repetition of the main cellwith its Tirthankara in the surroundingminor cells may be an architectural symbolof the Jaina theory of multiplicity of souls.Whatever may be the origin or motive ofthis arrangement, it has offered to the crafts-man a very admirable opportunity fordevising a very imposing passage of circum-bulation and for elaborate decoration of aseries of domes which are placed on thepillars facing each cell round the corridorthe two longest of which run to about 128feet. Each dome is ornamented withdecorations which are different fromthe other and some of them are littlemasterpieces of their kind. The surfaceof the ceilings are sculptured with in-cidents from Jaina mythologies, prin-cipally from stories of the SatrunjayaMahatmya as indicated by the namesengraved beneath them. Some of thepanels are devoted to representations ofSiva, Vishnu, Narasimha and other Hindudeities. Whether we consider the generaleffect of the pillared corridors or thedetailed embroideries on its panels andceilings, the feeling is one of uniform wonderat the magnificent forms which the Jainshave choseij to record their prayers in stone,finding expression for them in a language ofsuperb/richness and delicacy which the

resources of Indian Art of the tiijie coulddevise. It is impossible to convey in words-an accurate impression of the mysteriousbeauty of this long " pradakshina " in themystic play of light accentuated here andthere by the gleam of the white marble. Theaccompanying plates will help us to realiseto a certain extent the beauty of thesetemples. The amount of ornamental detailspread over these shrines in the minutelycarved decoration of ceilings, pillars, door-ways, panels and niches, is nothing short ofmarvellous. The crisp,*thin and translucentshell-like treatment of the marble surpassesanything seen elsewhere and some of thedesigns are just dreams of beauty.

But it is the octagonal assembly-hallterminating in a magnificently curved domewhich forms the rriost striking and beautifulfeature of the two temples, as well as thedistinguishing characteristic of the style.As you face the principal shrine from theentrance, the Sabhamandapa is before youwith its intricate forest of pillars elaboratelycurved and ending in bracket capitals. Overthese a series of upper dwarf columns areplaced to give additional height to the pillars,and on these upper columns rest the greatbeams or architraves. Each capital hasfour bracket struts from which spring orna-mental arches, or toranas, touching thecentres of the beams above, the remainingtwo brackets supporting dancing figures.The octagonal architraves develop into acircular cornice, richly carved, which supportthe dome, which can be well studied fromthe detailed photographs illustrated in photo-gravure (p. 11). The domes are undoubtedlythe pride of the Dilwara temples. The curveof the domes is broken and relieved by agraduated series of ribs de':orated withvarious derivatives of lotus-shapeswhilethe centre of the dome develops into a lotuspendant of exquisite design and workman-ship. An important feature of the dome isa series of sixteen large female figuresstanding on brackets and arranged in acircle, each figure representing a " Vidya-devi " or " Sasan^evi " of the Tirthankara.They seem to correspond to the Saktis oftantric deities. Each devi is known by thesymbols she carries, whilie on a few of themtheir names are engraved. The introduction

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of the female figures, no doubt dictated bythe Jaina donator of the temples, has beenmade very skilfully. For although the figuresthemselves are not very artistic specimens ofsculpture, they are cleverly woven into thecomposition and fit in very easily into thedecorative schemes, providing a useful foilto the other ornaments, helping to break themonotony of the continuous decorativefigures.

It is, however, the singular ornamentpendant which forms the most striking andbeautiful feature of the entire compositionand will appropriate the attention of allvisitors. Its many intricate ornamentationsmay be studied in the details afforded inplate opposite (Fig. 1). This specialform of ornament has. been a peculiarfeature of this class of temples erected bythe Jainas during the eleventh centurythough the peculiar arrangement of thedomed assembly-hall with its pillared porchis an ticipated in the Sun-temple at Mudheraerected six years before Vimala Shah's templeat Mount Abu. It has been suggested thatthis style of architecture and particularlythe many details of the ornaments anddecorative lintels and toranas (the angularstruts springing from the lower capitals)have been derived from wooden originals.It cannot be doubted that some of the detailsparticularly the decorative arches, the" toranas "are directly borrowed fromwooden specimens. In Guzrat there existed avery fine and well-developed style of woodenarchitecture. But it is now impossible totrace the derivation of the style of the Dil-wara temples from any existing specimensof wooden architecture. We have, no doubt,an example of a somewhat similar ceilingcarried out ifi wood in the temple of VadiParsvanath at Anahilawada, but the lattertemple was not built before 1594 A. D. andhence cannot be taken to be the prototypein wood from which the temples at Abucould be taken to have been translated intostone. It is possible that the craftsmen whobuilt these temples had developed their skillby previous exercises in wood which gavethem courage to attempt such a difficultmedium. But the history of Indian crafts-manship precludes any supposition.of stone-architecture of this class being derived

directly from wooden predecessors. Thetraining and tradition of Indian buildershave been to work in more than onematerial simultaneously, and there is noquestion of one medium preceding the other.Whatever may be the origin of this peculiarstyle, there is evidence that it continued for along time and spread over a wide area, atleast as far down as Ambarnath nearKalyan (Bombay) where we have a similartemple erected in 1060 A. D.To return to our study of the ceiling ofthe assembly-halls. It is usual to comparethe effect of the domical ceilings with thoseof Gothic cathedrals. Indeed, all writerswho have recorded their impressions havenot omitted to refer to the supposed analogywith Gothic architecture. Fergusson's re-marlcs are worth quoting: "In the centreof the dome is a pendant of most exquisitebeauty; the whole is in white marble andfinished with a delicacy of detail and appro-priateness of ornament which is probablyunsurpassed by any similar example tobe found anywhere else. Those intro-duced by the Gothic architects in HenryVII.'s Chapel in Westminster, or atOxford, are coarse and clumsy in com-parison. It is difficult by any means ofillustration to convey a correct idea ofthe extreme beauty and delicacy of thesependant ornaments " (History of IndianArchitecture, Vol. II, p. 41). Colonel Tod hasexpressed himself in somewhat similarlanguage: "Although it has some analogyto the corbeille of a Gothic cathedral, thereis nothing in the most florid style of Gothicarchitecture that can be compared with thisin richness. Its form is cylindrical, aboutthree feet in length, and where it drops fromthe ceiling it appears like a cluster of thehalf disclosed lotus, whose cups are so thin,so transparent and so accurately wrought,that it fixes the eye in admiration " (Travelsin Western India, p. 106-09). While everyone will endorse the eulogy lavished on theskill of the decorations of these hangingclusters, the analogy with features ofGothic architecture is not very close. Thespirit behind these architectural forms atMount Abu is undoubtedly akVn to thatwhich inspires the Gothic cathedrai^, but itis futile to look for any fundamental

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similarities with the forms and structures ofGothic architecture except in minor and in-essential features. The outstandingsimilarity in the two styles is afforded bythe peculiar inequality between the interiorand exterior of the temple which is also avery characteristic peculiarity of Gothiccathedrals. It has been said that the Gothicstyle imposes a sacrifice of the exterior tothe interior of the building. This remarkapplies with greater force to the Jainatemples at Mount Abu. For while the fly-ing buttresses and the intricate profusion ofstruts and stays and pinnacles of mediaevalcathedrals in Europe offer mysterious effectsin sky lines, the exteriors of the temples ofMount Abu have not the least pretensions toany architectural effect. The low domesand lower sikharas of these Jaina templeshave the most uninviting and bald effect,which is due to the architects concentratingtheir designs wholly upon the interior of thetemples. Indeed, it is difficult to citeexamples of such complete sacrifice of theexterior features of a temple to thenecessities of its interior designs. There isno question that the sacrifice has been justi-fied. It is difficult to cite any example ofsuch richly decorated interiors which couldrival the Dilwara temples. The imposingeffect produced by these surface ornamentsmust, however, be distinguished from thekind of beauty which is produced by cleverspacing and by juxtaposition of masses inproportions that give pleasure to the sight.

architecture of these Jaina temples isnot certainly of that order. And, if we canfree ourselves for a time from the enchant-ment of its elaborate trappings andsuperficial embroideries to peer behind itsmagic veilto get a glimpse of the nakedintegrity of its forms,we shall be in abetter position to judge of the exact logic ofits expression. As soon as we disengage our-selves from the blandishments of its fairydecorations, we begin to realise that orna-ment, as such, cannot be accepted as theprincipal part or the essence of architecture.It has to be judged by the logic of its cons-truction and by the integrity of its forms,stripped of**fll its surface decorations andplastic figures of speech. Nothing should beintroduced in architecture for mere

ornament, and the effect depends quite asmuch on the satisfaction the eye receivesfrom the way in which the structure explainsitself visibly as from the agreeable propor-tion and picturesqueness of the design.Judged by the reasons of construction andthe laws of proportion, there are manyfeatures of the Abu temples which canhardly escape criticism. The most obviousone is the lack of any constructional functionin the decorative " toranas " (arches)between the central pilldrs of the Sabhaman-dapa. In the medium of wood the " toranas "might be taken to help to keep the pillars inposition, but there is no justification forthem in the marble pillars. To Mr. HenryCousens, the late Superintendent of theArchaeological Surrey, Western Circle, is duethe credit of recording a sound criticism ofthe architecture of these temples. In hisReport for the year 1901, Mr. Cousens hasremarked: "Though the detail work of thesetemples is exquisite, and the designs are notonly novel in their treatment but extremelypleasing to the eye, yet the setting of thework is at fault. The general outlines ofthe buildings are not in the best proportions.Such large domes as these two principal onesof Vimala Shah's and Tejapala's temples areset too squat; they require greater height.The fault lies in the pillars, they should havebeen much taller." This criticism is justi-fied as regards the mandapa of Vimala Shah'stemple rather than that of Tejapal's, thepillars of which are loftier in height. Mr.Cousens' criticism of the position of ceilingsof the corridors is, however, difficult to meet." The corridor ceilings are specially too low,and the unnecessarily heavy massive beamsdo not improve them (vide Fig. 4).These beautifully executed ceiling panels,many fitted with delicate gossamertraceries, are stowed away in the deep-setbays between a multitudinous arrangementof heavy deep beams. Owing to the depth ofthe latter, one small panel only can be satis-factorily viewed at a time (Fig. 7), and thatonly by standing immediately underneath itand straining one's neck to see it, as it hangsbut three or four feet above the head. Theadjoining bays are almost entirely cut offfrom view by the heavy deep beams.Had half the thickness of these beams

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/ 20been buried in the roof above, thepanels and beams would have mergedinto one general ceiling, which wouldnot look, as it does, made up of samplesdropped into deep bo.ed cotnpartments."The short height of the ceilings can be ex-plained, but cannot be justified. Thecorridor of Vimala Shah's temple was builtmuch later than the main shrine and itsheight was determined long ago by theheight of the central shrine and the as-sembly-hall. But the limitation could havebeen compensated, as Mr. Cousens suggests,by reducing the thickness of the beamns soas to expose the ceilings to a general viewnow obstructed by the deep.bays.

To the visitors to the pilgrimages ofartthe Sabhamandapa auld the corridors ofthe temples appropriate more attentionthan the shrine itself where the mainimages are located, one of which is illus-trated in Fig. 2. The corridors andthe Sabhamandapa are treated with utterindifference by the majority of the peoplewho frequent these temples. " Scores ofpilgrims go in and out of these shrines,having come from the uttermost ends ofthe land to this holy " tirtha," who seldomlook about them at all and pass by all thisbeautiful work without heeding it. Theygo straight to the shrine, perform thenecessary rites and walk out again. Thefact that the temple is constructed of whitemarble might dawn upon some of them, butthe beauty of the endless variety of formsinto which its ornamental detail is so cun-ningly wrought appeals to them in vain."To one more sensitive to aesthetic appeal thedelicate lotus petal string course, of thebasement mouldings of the shrine (Fig. 3),will offer more attraction than the shrineitself. The only other noticeable feature ofthe temples is the portrait gallery of thedonators. In the temple of Vimala Shah, thisgallery is situated opposite the entrance tothe main shrine, and contains ten statuesof elephants, on each of them was seated afigure on a rich " hauda " behind the driver.These represented Vimala Shah and hisfamily in procession to the temple, but thefigures have been destroyed during Maho-medan invasion. The portrait galleryattached to Tejpal's temple is illustrated in

Fig. 5. The elephants with their richtrappings are sculptured with exquisiteprecision. Behind the elephants are tenslabs, each with a male and one or morefemale figures on it. These are representa-tions of the donators who were riding onthe elephants together with their wives.Two of the slabs represent the two brothersand their wivesof Vastupala with LalitaDevi and Wiruta Devi and of Tejapala andAnupama. In building this temple thebrothers have not only exchanged theirperishable wealth for an immortal name, butimmortalized the name of more than onemember of their family. The names oftheir relatives are engraved in the smallniches (jinalaya) of which there are fifty*two here, and each niche was built for adistinct personage.On the comparative excellence of thetwo temples, critics have expressed differentopinions. Fergusson has found it difficultto decide which should bear the palm. Veryfew people will, however, differ from Tod'sestimation. Referring to the temple ofTejapala he remarks: " The design and exe-cution of this shrine and all its accessoriesare on the model of the preceding, which,however, as a whole, it surpasses. It hasmore simple majesty, the fluted columnssustaining the munduff (hall) are loftier,and the vaulted interior is fully equal to theother in richness of sculpture and superiorto it in execution, which is more free and infiner taste."We have begun by suggesting that thearchitecture of the Dilwara temples is notthe expression of any special necessities ofJaina religion. Generally speaking, theJains adopted existing styles rather themoriginated any new styles. And it is some-what difficult to glean from the group oftemples on Mount Abu any contributionswhich we may consider as due to Jainainspiration. To one endowed with a specialdegree of assthetic imagination, the use ofthe materialthe sparkling white marblewhich contributes to such a magnificenteffectmay be taken to symbolize the Jainatheory of the purity of soul. The functionof Jaina ritual is to purify the -soul of the" dirt of human actions " until' ^the soulshines resplendent, all pure and powerful.

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in the gleam of its white marble wefancy a