Meguti Jain Temple

Aihole, India

East side. The temple, dated by inscription to 634, was built without mortar and faces north (photo right). The tower (south) and porch (north) are later constructions.

The niches (photo left) were left without sculptures. Huntington (pp. 322-324), while noting several affinities between Meguti and the rock-cut Badami Cave 3 of only a generation earlier, points out that other temples, contemporary with Meguti, are more elaborately decorated; the plain style seen at Meguti develops in parallel with, not earlier than, a more ornate style which is seen in other temples of the period.