Multi-shrined Complexes: The Ordering of Space in Jaina Temple Architecture

Abstract

This article will examine issues of layout and spatial organisation in Jaina temples in India. Most studies of Jaina architecture have concentrated on the external ornamentation and the sculptural treatment of the temples, aspects through which the Jaina edifices have been closely associated with the structures of other religions in the subcontinent. Consequently, specialists in Indian art history and architecture have so far supported the concept that Jaina temple architecture closely follows the architectural principles established for the design of Hindu and Buddhist structures. Whilst Jaina temples have shrine rooms, mandapas and roof constructions related to those of the religious buildings of other religions in the region, the arrangement of individual architectural elements and the spaces contained between them, as well as the expansion of temple complexes in the horizontal and vertical planes, exhibits a development peculiar to the religious architecture of the Jainas. Although some of these changes are apparent from as early as the eighth to twelfth century AD, others only crystallised during and after the thirteenth century. Because art historians have largely concentrated on Jaina structures dating from the earlier periods of this evolution, distinct developments in the organisation of space and in the disposition of temple elements have largely been neglected.

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