An Interior section of the 15th century Ranakpur Jain Temple, also called the Chaturmukh Temple, Rajasthan, India [919×1024]

This temple was commissioned by Dharna Shah, a Jain merchant, after supposedly seeing the vision of this temple in his dream. The merchant was given permission by the then ruler of Mewar, Rana Kumbha (1433-68), supposedly with a condition to also settle a town near the temple. The town was called Ranakpur, the Rana's town. Mewar at this period was at the height of its power, attracting the best architects and artisans, this temple, as well as other monuments from Kumbha's reign reflect this period's immense prosperity. Some historians have called Kumbha's reign as a sort of a Neo Classical period, where Kumbha and his architects tried to recreate the splendour and glory of India's Classical Age, particularly reinvigorating the Maru-Gurjara Style of Architecture, in the late Medieval period.