Holy Abu

SR No.: 023259
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jayantvijay
Publisher: Yashovijay Jain Granthmala
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 380
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 14 MB

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(Holy Abu There is a Government choki nearby, in the vicinity of the milestone No. 13-I. which affords protection to the residents of the ashrama. (59-60) Jvāla-Devi Cave and Ruined Jaina Shrine.
A little westward from the Shānti-Ashrama, on a rock, is the Jvālā-devī cave in which is worshipped an image of Jvālā-devī. She has four hands and a pig is shown as her vehicle. One of her right hands is mutilated. The Hindus worship her with oil and sindūra ( lead-oxide) and regard her as a sister of the goddess Adharadevī. They also believe that there is a subterraneon passage connecting this cave with the cave-shrine of Adharadevī. Beliefs of this type are common to various sites all over India. There are two smaller caves nearby.
Near the cave is a chawk, or a compound where mutilated parts of a gateway of some Jaina temple are lying scattered. This is inferred from a part of the door-lintel with a miniature figure of a Jina on it.
Going a little downward from the cave, to its south, are two ruined brick-structures which seem to be of Jaina temples since the mutilated parts of a door-frame are found near the Jvālā-cave nearby. One of the two structures was possibly dedicated to the. Tīrthařkara Chandraprabha whose yakshi is also known as Jvālā devī. It is not improbable that the image of the yakshi was later removed to the cave when the shrine was destroyed. There are two or three unidentified smaller images.worshipped by the side of the Jvālā image in the cave. (61) Tower of Silence. ( Zoroastrian Dakhma). : Near the milestone 15, at some distance from the main road is a place known as the Tower of Silence, built by a Pārsi gentleman called Moţābhāi Bhikāji, for performing the last rites of a Zoroastrian.