Shantinatha Basadi or Shanteshvara basadi, is
the only Jain temple built in the ornate style with large figures encircling
much of the temple. The temple is an ekakuta structure standing on a jagati
which is about a meter in height. There are 73 images around the temple of
which five images have not even begun and many images were never completed.
Decorative elements at the base of the temple are also not finished.
Shantinatha Basadi, a Jain temple dedicated
to the sixteenth Tirthankar Shantinatha is located at Jinanathapura to the
north of Chandragiri near Shravanabelagola. Jinanathapura was founded by Ganga
Raja, a commander and an influential Jain patron in the early 12th century
during the rule of the noted Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana.
A Kannada language inscription on the
pedestal of the seated image of the Shantinatha reveals that the Basadi was
built by Recana, a general and minister of the king Ballala II. It also gives
some information about his Jain preceptors. Recana, who was earlier in the
service of the Kalyani Chalukyas and later the Southern Kalachuris, appears to
have transferred his loyalty to the Hoysala king. This may be the reason for
the interesting departure from contemporary austere Jain temples to rich and
bold exterior panel relief, an idiom that was more common with the contemporary
Hindu temples built by the Hoysala kings or by influential persons associated
with the empire.
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