Meena Basati, Aihole, Karnataka

Meena Basati, Aihole, Karnataka

Meena Basati is a Jain cave temple dedicated to Mahavira, 24^th Tirthankara of Jainism, located on the banks of the Malaprabha river in the heart of Aihole, an historical town, in Bagalkot District in Karnataka, India. This cave temple is situated on the southern façade of the Meguti Hill. This temple is considered as one of the earlier monuments of Aihole.

History

This cave temple could have been excavated towards the end of the 6^th century CE or early 7^th century CE. This temple is protected as monuments of national importance by the central Archaeological Survey of India.

The Cave Temple

The cave temple is facing towards south east and situated on the Meguti Hill. It consists of a narrow porch, a central hall opening into the main shrine and two side chambers. The porch is supported by four pillars and two pilasters. All the pillars are plain and square in section. The ceiling of the porch is decorated with delicate relief patterns of lotus petals, separated by panels with huge makaras (crocodiles) disgorging tiny human figures.

Sculptures of Gomateshwara flanked by his sisters Brahmi & Sundari and five hooded Parsvanatha along with Dharanendra, , Padmavati and Kamatha can be seen on the extreme right and extreme left of the porch respectively. The pillars of the side chambers and sanctum are similar in style. The ceiling of the hall is carved with a huge lotus inside a square at its centre. The four corners of the hall has carvings of lotus on the ceiling. There is another lotus carved at the centre of the floor in the hall.

The sanctum is guarded by dvarapalas on either side. The sanctum has a carving of Mahavira seated in padmasana in dyana mudra on a lion throne on the back wall. He rests under a triple umbrella canopy flanked by two whisk bearers on either side of him. The chamber on the left side has carving of Mahavira flanked by female worshippers. An elephant procession is also carved in this chamber. The chamber on the right side was never finished. There is a path to the left of this temple leads to the dolmens at the top of the Meguti hill.

Connectivity

The temple is located at about 1.5 Kms from Aihole Bus Stand. Aihole is located at about 13 Kms from Pattadakal, 30 Kms from Badami Railway Station, 33 Kms from Bagalkot Junction Railway Station, 34 Kms from Badami, 38 Kms from Bagalkot, 88 Kms from Gadag, 136 Kms from Hubballi Airport, 164 Kms from Belgaum Airport, 277 Kms from Goa and 446 Kms from Bengaluru. Aihole is situated on Pattadakal to Amingad route.

Location