Author: jambudweep

Girnar Plan of the Neminatha Temple, built in c. 1128. The surrounding devakulikas were added later. The walled enclosure measures 139 metres in length by 58 metres in width. The Neminatha image in the sanctum is of polished black basalt. A special feature of this temple is a panel of 108 well-carved footprints.  Plan of...

Mount Shatrunjaya O lord of peaks Shatrunjaya! How can en wise people describe in brief your qualities Due to the influence of this tirtha, there is causpicious mental modifica tion of men who come on pilgrimage 4 pious man eliminates sin by placing on his limbs dust from the carts and the four of the...

Shankeshvara Parshvanatha Shankesvara Temple. Part view, Shankeshvara (see map ill. 270) is a historic Jaina site comprising an old temple within a fortified enclosure, some new to very new temples, about a dozen dharmashalas, a bus stand, and one long street lined with shops. Usually called Parshvanath Shankeshvar, it is the most popular place of...

Patan The study and the translation of Jaina scriptures by western scholars has a history of almost two hundred years. Understandably, this long preoccupation with written words led to a dry and unexciting, even grim picture of Jainism; a portrait that is still perpetuated by editors of books on the world's religions as well as...

Ahmedabad Though founded by a Muslim, Sultan Ahmad Shah, in 1411, Ahmedabad has more Jaina temples than mosques within its historic city wall. Astonishingly, a guide published by the Archaeological Survey of India (2nd ed. 1992), entitled AHMADABAD, does not mention a single Jaina monument. A Parshvanatha temple which was built by Shantidas Jhaveri, a...

Gujarat Three of Gujarat's sacred Jaina sites - Kumbharia, Idar and Taranga - have already been featured in the 'Grand Tour' chapter (p. 154). Of the many other places only a few can be mentioned here. Gujarat - Gandhi - Jainism: three names that form a kind of "trinity" in the minds of many Indians...

Chittorgarh  Nothing will be said here about the many battles and the bloodshed associated with Chittorgarh Fort. In the end, after more than a thousand years, this abruptly rising plateau remotely shaped like a whale when seen from the air, has found peace. Thus, a photograph emanating today's peaceful atmosphere of the Fort has been...

Rishabhdeo Mandir Two views of Rishabhdeo Mandir, Situated sixty-five kilometres from Udaipur on the road to Ahmedabad, it is one of the most popular Jaina temples in Rajasthan. Since it is claimed as a place of worship not only by Jainas (predominately Shvetambara) but also by Hindus and especially by Bhils, who visit the temple...

Udaipur Udaipur, so named after Udai Singh who founded the present city in 1572-  Chittorgarh had fallen to the Mughals five years earlier - has animated the romantic trait of many a foreign traveller to the present day. The above cited Hermann Keyserling, a well known German philosopher, began his journey round the globe from...

Ranakpur The grandest of the Jaina temples built after 1300 is the Adinatha Vihara (vihara = temple) at Ranakpur. It covers an area of 3720 square metres and its twenty-nine halls are supported by 420 pillars, none of which are alike. Building began in 1389, and took fifty years to complete. It was the fortunate...