What are the architectural features of Jain temples?

The remarkable feature of the temple volume of Jainism in North India is the statue of a Jain saint-philosopher standing in front of the entrance door of the monastic room, who sits cross-legged like the Buddha. The entrance door is formed by a dome supported on eight columns, each pair of adjacent columns forming an arch, which is formed by the "pillars" that branch off from the lower "capitals" at the top of the columns. Such "pillars" give additional support to the "rims" attached to the capitals, and the vaulted room is constructed of parallel oriented stone, built layer by layer towards the center, up to the highest part of the roof, which is then closed with a stone slab. Undoubtedly, the first parallel circle was octagonal, with flat slabs placed horizontally at the intersecting corners, but as it got higher, the slabs were gradually hewn into the shape of bowed stones forming the circle, so that a narrower and narrower ring of stone circles was formed until the highest part of the dome was closed at the top. It is difficult to understand how Jainism, whose teachings advocate austerity, abstinence, and even brutal self-torture, can place so much emphasis on ornate carvings in its temples. One of the earliest and most complete Jain temple in existence is the VimalaTemple, MountAbu.