Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Chitral -Jain Rock Cut Cave Temple

Jainism came to Kerala in the third century BC along with Chandragupta Maurya (B.C. 321-297),and the Jain monk Bhadrabaahu, who travelled to Shravanabelagola near Mysore (in present day Karnataka).The contribution of Jain art to the main stream art of Kerala was considerable.Jain architecture had close affinities with Buddhist architecture and it would not be wrong to say that it was an offshoot of Hinduism and Buddhist styles.In the initial stages many Jain temples were made adjoining to Buddhist temples following the Buddhist rock cut style.But in later years they discovered a distinctive style of their own namely,’’the mountains of immortality’’ and moving away from the Buddhist sites built temples on their own,which should be termed as temple cities
Compared to Buddhist temples Jain temples were few .Jainism attained popularity in Kerala and received royal patronage from Ilango Adikal, the famous author of the Tamil epic Silapadikaram .In Kerala there are a number of Jain temples and the rock shelter at Chitral near Nagercoil, Kallil in Perumbavoor , and Alathoor near Palakkad are famous for it simple architectural designing but unique and rich sculptural details.Images of Mahavira and Parshavanath are found in several temples.
Chitral near Nagerkoil is famous for its unique rock cut temple dedicated to Mahavira. The temple consists of a low roofed temple,a pillared hall with ornamental granite pillars and a depleted Gopuram.It also contains a Bass relief on one of its side walls consisting of images of Jain thirtankaras in padmsan position.It is towards the northern side of the temple and is rich in details with a diamond shaped projection on the chest of the thirtankaras,one of the noteworthy characteristics of Jain sculptures.The inner shrine contains images of Buddha,Ambika and Krishna.Mahavira the chief Deity is in Padmasana position(usually the Jain sculptures depict only two position –sitting or free standing) with a triple umbrella .There are also images of Bhagavathi and Parsavanthi .Epigraphic evidence shows that there was a reputed Jain university at Thirucharanattumalai.With the decline of Jainism the temple was converted into Hindu shrine and regular pooja is still offered.This was the case with most of the Jain temples of Kerala.The eighth century saw the revival of Hinduism we find that many of these temples were forcefully converted as hindu temples. The temple at Koodalmanikkyam in Irinjalakuda is believed to have been among them.The belief is that it was dedicated to Bharatheswara, a Digambar Jain monk .Jainism had a profound impact on the religious architecture of Kerala

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