Pavagiri (U.N)

Un, a small township in Madhya Pradesh and to Jaina pilgrims better known as Pavagiri, can be comfortably visited from Barwani by taking a morning bus bound for Khargaone and returning in the afternoon. The pilgrims’ des- tination is the temple locally called Gwaleswar situated on a hill at walking distance from the western bus stand (ill.193, opposite).

Another low hill in this remote town is the site of a ruined but still awe-inspiring Jaina temple named by the Archaeological Survey of India as Chaubara-Dera 2 (above).

The Shantinatha image that was found in its sanctum has been removed to the Indore museum. It bears the date 1242 of the Vikram era (AD 1185). Some fairly large Jina statues, badly damaged, have been deposited in the outer hall of a Hindu temple behind the western bus stand.

The three standing Jinas in the sunken holy of holies of the Gwaleshwar Temple, sculptured of black basalt and highly polished, have escaped mutilation. They are the icons sought out by the pilgrims to be ceremoniously wor- shipped. The centre one is an image of Shantinatha. A bench facilitates the ‘washing’ of the statues; for the pilgrims, it is an essential part of puja (also devapuja).

 Gwaleshwar Mandir; in style similar to the ruined Chaubara-Dera Temple (opposite). Twelfth century. Several times rebuilt, it has lost much of its original state except the tower, which is missing at the devastated temple.