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- Title
The Temple as Symbol.
- Authors
HEGEWALD, JULIA A. B.
- Abstract
Jaina temple architecture in India represents an unbroken and still evolving tradition. Sacred shrines of the Jaina community are found in all regions of the subcontinent and exhibit a high degree of complexity and variation. Most reflect the use of local building materials, techniques and styles common at their time of construction. However, despite this regional and temporal adaptation, there are general underlying principles, which govern the structural planning of Jaina temples and make them distinct. The Jaina community in India did not develop a completely new concept or shape of temple architecture. Nevertheless, the spatial arrangements of Jaina shrines and the layout of their religious complexes have developed in a way, which differentiates these clearly from the edifices of other religious groups. Jaina temple architecture displays a well-defined tendency towards the multiplication of objects of veneration, roof elements, and image chambers on horizontal as well as on various superimposed vertical levels. In addition, mythological and cosmological themes have provided motives for composite temple constructions. These complex, frequently multi-chambered and multi-storeyed temple structures, have been placed in walled compounds and surrounded by subsidiary shrines. Temple complexes have been enlarged and multiplied to form prominent pilgrimage centres and temple cities. These features are not unique to a specific region, period or sect of the Jainas, but characterise Jaina temple architecture in general. As sacred space in the Jaina temple is fundamentally shaped by ritual requirements the particular layout is explained with regards to Jaina ritual, image veneration and cosmology. This includes the need to accommodate a multitude of sacred icons and symbols and to adjust to the ritual movement of devotees and priests.
- Subjects
INDIA; JAINA temples; TEMPLES; JAINA architecture; CONSTRUCTION materials; JAINA shrines; JAINS; RITUAL; TEMPLE design &; construction
- Publication
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni, 2014, Vol 80, Issue 2, p487
- ISSN
0393-8417
- Publication type
Article