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

Maharana Kumbha. Mr. Fergusson says that Maharana Kum- bha, "during his long and prosperous reign filled his country with beautiful buildings, both civil and ecclesiastical. Amongst others he built this temple of Ranpur,¹ situated in a lonely and deserted glen, running into the western slope of the hills below his favourite fort of Kumbhalgarh. Notwithstanding long neglect, it is still nearly perfect, and is the most complicated and extensive Jaina temple, I have myself ever had an opportunity of inspecting."² "From the plan it would be perceived that it is nearly a square, 200 ft. by 225 ft., exclusive of the projections on each face. In the centre stands the great shrine, not, however, occupied, as usual, by one cell, but by four; or rather four great niches, in each of which is placed a statue of Adinatha, or Rishabdeva, the first and greatest of the Jaina Tirthankars. Above this are four other ¹ "It is one of the largest edifices existing, and cost upwards of a million sterling, towards which Kumbha contri- buted eighty thousand pounds"—Tod's Rajasthan, Vol. I., p. 289. ² History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. 150