महाराणा कुम्भा (हरविलास सारदा - मेवाड़ साम्राज्य के अद्वितीय विजेता, निर्माता व विद्वान्)

Maharāṇa Kumbha. Ranpur is one of the five sacred places in Marwar. Streams of Jain pilgrims visit it all the year round. It was built by Maharana Kumbha's favourite, Dhāranaka, in V. S. 1496 (A.D. 1439), and was designed by the architect Dipaka. It is four storeys high including the underground vault and is supported by nu- merous columns of granite upwards of forty feet high. The interior is inlaid with mosaics of cornelian and agate. The temple is called Chaumukha because the principal figure is a group of four images placed on a pedestal back to back so as to face the four cardinal directions. The images are of white marble, and all of Rishabdeva. "The upper storey also contains a similar shrine accessible by four doors opening from the terraced roofs of the building. The lower and principal shrine has no door, as is very often the case with Jain temples, but only a small porch called Mukhamanadapa. Further, on a lower level, is a Sabhā-Mandapa or open assembly hall, on each side approached by a nāl or flight of stairs. Outside this flight of stairs is an open porch, and above, a closed 148