Morphology of Jaina Architecture

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Temple architecture is still the most visible expression of Jaina religion and culture. South Asia is dotted with numerous Jaina caves,temples and shrines,or remnants thereof,witnessing the splendour and continuing influence of Jaina religion throughout the sub-continent. Yet,many of the surviving ancient Jaina monuments have not been identified and described,and only few have properly been studied by modern scholars. In recent decades, concerted efforts were made by Jaina tirtha rakṣa committees to record the architectural heritage of the Jaina tradition, and to renovate both places of worship which are still used by Jaina communities and archaeological sites which now lie idle. In the last fifty years,important compendia on Jaina architecture and iconography have also been composed by scholars such as U.P.Shah, K. Bruhn, BC Bhattacharya, M.A. Dhaky. A.Ghosh, E.Fischer, J.Jain, MN P Tiwari, C Sivaramamurti, P Pal and HT Talwar Despite these impressive achievements, Jaina architecture still remains an under researched subject. The Morphology of Jaina Architecture by Professor Padmanabhaiah Nagarajaiah, Hampana, closes a wide gap in the existing literature by offering an affordable and richly illustrated paperback summary of the state of the art in the study of Jaina architecture, with an emphasis on the southern Indian Digambara Jaina temple architecture. His previously published works Jina Parsva Temples in Karnataka (1999), Manastambha: Jaina Pillar of Eminence (2001), Opulent Candragiri, Shravanabelagola (2001), and Indra in Jaina Iconography (2002), to name but his English language books,established the author as one of the foremost experts in this field. The reader is advised to consult these complementary books for the bibliographic sources of the vast amount of information and attractive visual illustrations displayed in the present volume.