Month: April 2023

Chulagiri  The most sacred and highest peak (altitude 641 m) of Chalagiri, also called Bhawangaja, is crowned by a compact temple (above) in which every available space along the inner walls is oc- cupied by Jina images, free-standing and in high relief. Hard- ly a day passes without family groups of pilgrims, after pay- ing...

Mahavirji.  The focus of worship and adoration at Maha- virji (connected with Sonagiri by direct bus) is a seated Mahavira of reddish coloured stone (right) that lay buried for an unknown period of time. Only after it was dug up early in the 20th century was the present main temple (below) built at the expense...

Sonagiri A convenient way to reach the Jaina temple-hill of Sonagiri is by boarding a south- bound train at Gwalior or a north-bound one at Lalitpur or Jhansi (see map, p. 100). After a journey of about sixty kilometres from Gwalior (or forty from Jhansi) the train will halt at a lonely station bearing the...

Khajuraho  A be image of the third Jina (see previous page). Khajuraho needs no introduction as to its location, history and architecture. Many al western visitor will go away from this rightly famous place with the incorrect view that Jainism is merely a slightly different branch of Hinduism. Is the architecture and art of the...

Kundalpur Kundalpur, thirty-five kilometres north-east of Damoh, with about sixty temples, ranging from plain, flat-roofed shrines built in the eighth/ninth century to widely scattered temples of later dates, is one of the earliest and largest places of Jaina pilgrimage in Central India Public buses run between the district city of Damoh and Kundalpur during daylight...

Ahar Some time during the 11th of the Chandella rulers of Khajuraho, who reign=11511 to 1241, developed a liking for Ahar, a rurement about ninety-five kilometres as the crow west of Khajuraho, and twenty kilo- metres to the south-east of Tikamgarh. They had the vision of beautifying this historic place of Jaina worship by building...

Papora Papora (also Papoura), five kilometres south of Tikam garh, is another popular destination for Digambara pilgrims. During late me dieval time it was a site of vigorous temple building. By combining old and new cle- ments a rather pleasing type of temple emerged . The tower, retaining its conical shape, now rested upon a...

chanderi Chanderi, district Guna in Madhya Pradesh, thirty-seven kilometres west of Lalitpur (see map p.100) and renowned for the Chanderi Handloom Saris manufactured by a Jaina family enterprise, is an inviting town to visit. The fort on the hill lies in ruins but the approximately five hundred year old Jaina temple is kept in good...