Jain temple

For over 1,000 years, the basic layout of a Hindu or most Jain temples has consisted of a small garbhagriha or sanctuary for the main murti or idol, over which the high superstructure rises, then one or more larger mandapa halls.

The style is seen in the groups of pilgrimage temples at Dilwara on Mount Abu, Taranga, Girnar, Kundalpur, Sonagiri, Muktagiri and Palitana.

The Ellora Caves are a late site, which contains temples of all three religions, as the earlier Buddhist ones give way to later Hindu excavations.

[7] Despite the similarity between different religions, Jainism is often known for placing large figures of one or more of the 24 tirthankaras in the open air rather than inside a shrine.

For example, the Mel Sithamur Jain Math in Tamil Nadu has a large gopuram tower, similar to those of local Hindu temples.

Characteristics of the original Māru-Gurjara style are "the external walls of the temples have been structured by increasing numbers of projections and recesses, accommodating sharply carved statues in niches.

The main shikhara tower usually has many urushringa (subsidiary spirelets) on it, and two smaller side-entrances with porches are common in larger temples.

[10] However the entrance(s), often up high, wide steps, are not designed for actual defence, even though medieval Muslim armies and others destroyed many Jain temples in the past, often permanently.

For this reason, and often the smaller numbers of Jains in the population, Jain temples tend to be at the small or middle end of the range of sizes, but at pilgrimage sites they may cluster in large groups - there are altogether several hundred at Palitana, tightly packed within several high-walled compounds called "tuks" or "tonks".