THE temple of Vastupâla and Tejapâla is to the north of Vimala Śah’s, and is entered from the court between them by a stair near the west end of the enclosure. It contains several inscriptions in Sanskrit verse, from which one of the following extracts relating to the fournders, &c., are taken:—

            “I salute the goddess Śaraswati, who pervades the minds of the lerned, and is to be attracted only by that intellect in which she takes up her abode. (2) May that Śhiva, who sees all things in the twinkling of his eye, glowing with the fire of wrath, alone to be appeased by consuming the body of kâma, be propitious to you, together with the sone of Śhiva (i.e., Ganėśa).

            (3) There is a city named Anhila,1 the reservoir of happiness to the people, protected by the Châlukyas, equal to Raghu, where the moon-like loveliness of the females irradiates the dark hald of the lunar revolution, and banishes the gloom of the fortnight. (4) In that city was Chandapa, the geme of the Prâgatâ race, whose fame was as white as the flower of the jasmin, and by whose liberality the all-bestowing tree of heaven was oercome; the fruit of the maturity of his virtue. (5) His son was Chandrapala, the golden pillar of the palace of his family, a wide-spreading banner of glory. (6) Soma was born from him … (7) from him was born Asvarâja, devoting his mind to undeviating faith in the supreme divinity Jina; his beloved queen was Kamalâ Devi, like the consort of the enemy of Tripura, the mother of Kumâra. (8) The first son of the two was named Mantri Luniga … (10) Śri Malla deva, his next brother, who worshipped Malladeva,2 was an excellent minister, whose well-governed understanding had no thought of the wealth or wives of others … (13) The younger brother of this self-restricted sage, the Pius VASTUPÂLA, a shower of delight, marvelously laden with the nactar of eloquence, effaces those letters that indicate misfortune on the foreheads of the learned. (14) The chief Vastupâla among the ministers and poets of Châlukya race, filches not he property of others, either in fortune or in fancy. (15) Tejapâla, the youngest of the whole, is celebrated throughout the universe; the chief of ministers, he shines, augmenting the radiance of his lord, the terror of the wicked … (17) There were seven sisters of the princes, Jaktâ, Mao, &c. … (19) Whose heart is not delighted by Vastupâla, accompanied by his younger brother Tejapâla, like the month of Madhup by spring! … (22) Long may these brothers enjoy health nad life by whose fame the bracelet of the world is set with pearls, &c. …

            (25) “A distinguished scion of the branch of the Châlukya heroes was Arna, an illustrious prince. (26) After him, with uninterrupted radiance, Lavanapraśâda, his enemies being broken, obtained the earth. … (27) The son of this prince was Viradhavala, (28) who admitted not in his ear the reports of informers affecting these two ministers, by whom the dominion of their lord was irradiated with prosperity, and the courts of the palace were crowded with elephants and steeds. (29) by this couple of ministers placed at his knees I know well that this prince holds prosperity as with his two arms in delightful embrace again.

            (30) “This mountain ARBUDA, the peak of clustered hills, is the progeny of the father-in-law of (Siva) the bridegroom of Gauri, the brother-in-law3 of Sasibhrit, who bears the Mandâkinî as an ornament in his thick and tangled tresses of his head. … (33) Dhâma Raja was the first prince descended from the Prâmara. … (34) Dhanduka, Dhruva, and other princes, were born in this family .. and at last Râma Deva. … (35) His son was Yasodhavala,who was not overcome by Pradyumna; … who defeated Valâla, the king of Mâlava, when engaged in hostilities against the Châlukya Kumara Palâ.4 (36) His younger brother was Prahlâdana, whose sword was sharp in the defense of the soverign of Gurjara, when his power was curbed in the field by Samanta Sinhâ … (40) The son of Dharavarsha was Soma Sinha. …. (42) His son was Krishna Râjendeva.”

It then returns to Vastupâla and his wife Lalitâ Devî, whose son was Jayanta, or Jaitra Sinha. The genealogoy of Anŭpamâ Devî, the wife of Tejapâla, follows. Their son was Lâvanya, or Luna Sinha. Malladeva had by Lîlukâ a son Pŭrna Sinha, and by Ahlanî Devî was pethara. It then proceeds,—

            (6) “for securing the happiness of his wife and son, Tejapâla erected the temple of Naminâth on the mountain Arbuda. (61) Tejapâla, the friend of the king of the earth, erected the temple of Naminâth with massive stones, as white as the conch, the jasmine, or the lunar ray; in front of it he constructed a pavalion; by the side of it, fifty-two places for the reception of the chief Jinas; a batanaka (?) in the front. (62) The son of Chandapa was Chandraprâsad; Soma was his son, and his son was Asvrâja; his four sons where Luniga, Malladeva, Vastupâla and Tejapâla; Jaitra Sinha was the son of Vastupâla, and Lâvanya Sinha, the son of Tejapâla. (63) The figures of these ten riding on female elephants, like the regents of the ten spheres coming to see the Jina, are here resplendent. (64) Behind the figures, mounted on elephants, there are also these ten persons, accompanied by their wives, sculptured on aclear sonte. The younger brother of Vastupâla, the wise Tejapâla, the unequalled friend of the Châlukya Prince Vira Dhavala, had these executed … (73) Śri Soma Deva, by whom the feet of Châlukya monarch are honoured, composed this resplendent panegyric on this holy place. (74) May this euologium of the race of Vastupâla be propitious through the favour of the mathor of Neminâtha. This eulogy was engraved by the artist Chandelvara, the son of Dhandhala, the son of Kihlaua, and the consecration was performed by Vijayn Sena Suri, on the mountain Arbuda, on Sunday, the third of the light fortnight of Phâlgun, in the year of Vikrama 1287.” (A.D. 1230)

Over the doors of the cells of Kulikâs there are some forty-six inscriptions recording their construction and grants for the worship of the different images they enshrine, chiefly by Tejapâla or some of his kindred, and dated from Samvat 1287 to 1293 (A.D. 1230 to 1236). These inscriptions fix the date of this Chaitya or temple; and another long one shows that the inhabitants of Chandravatî, at the foot of Abu, had special rights connected with it. The brothers Vastupâla and Tejapâla were Porwâla Vânias of Anahilpațțana, who served as chief ministers under Vîra Dhavala, the first of the Wâghelâ dynasty of Gujarat.5

The mandap, or portico, forms one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Jaina style of architecture, as well as its most beautiful feature. In the most existing instances it is surrounded by a dome, resting on eight columns out of twelve, which form a square with four columns of each side, including the corners. These pillars terminate in the usual bracket-capital of the East; “upon this an upper dward column or attic, if it may be so called, is placed to give them additional height, and on these upper columns rest the great beams or architraves, which support the dome; as, however, the bearing is long, at least in appearance, the weight is relieved by the curious angular strut or truss of white marble, which, springing from the lower capital, seems to support the middle of the beam.” The arch formed by the two struts between each pair of columns is known as the toran. “That this last feature is derived from some wooden or carpentary original” continues Mr. Fergusson,6 “can, I think, scarcely be doubted; but in what manner it was first introduced into masonry construction is unknown. … It continues as an architectural feature down almost to the present day, but gradually becoming more and more attenuated, till at least it loses all its constructive significance as a supporting member, and swindles into a mere ornament.

On the octagon formed by the great marble beams across the heads of the pillars, rests the dome. In this instance a single block in the angles of the octagon suffices to introduce the circle. Above the second row of ornaments, sixteen pedestals are introduced, the lower portions of each wrought into a sitting figure with four or six arms. The pedestals support statues male and female, which, having lately become loose, have been refixed in a very clumsy way with an unnecessary amount of white lime. Above their heads is a circle of twenty-four pendants, and inside this a sort of shell pattern, whilst in the centre is a pendant of the most exquisite beauty.

“The whole is in white marble, and finished with a delicacy of detail and appropriateness of ornament, which is probably unsurpassed by any similar example to be found anywhere else. Those introduced by the Gothic architects in Henry the Seventh’s chapel at Westminster, or at Oxford, are coarse and clumsy in comparision.”7

“That fretwork, — that low-pendant ornament,
A faēry maze, voluminous, orb or orb –
Those weaving lines of exquisite tracery, —
Arches of unimaginable sweep, —
Whence every moment on thy chramed eye
New lurking graces laughingly gleam out.”

  • 1. This is Anhilvâdâ Patan, the old capital of Gujarat, to the west of Siddhpur, known to the Arabs of the tenth and the following centuries as Nehrwalah, on the site of the modern Pâtan or Pirân Pâtan.
  • 2. The ninteenth of the twenty-four Jinas or Tirthankaras
  • 3. That is Himalâya, from whch the Muni or Sage VAshistha is said to have brought Mount Abu
  • 4. King of Gujarat, A.D. 1142-1173
  • 5. See the writer’s introduction to The Temples of Śatrunjaya, p. 12.
  • 6. Hist. Architect. Vol ii. P. 625.
  • 7. Fergusson, ut sup.
Plate IX. The Ceiling of the Dome in Burgess, James. "The Temples of Delwada." In Photographs of Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana,
Plate IX. The Ceiling of the Dome in Burgess, James. "The Temples of Delwada." In Photographs of Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana,

See also …