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A Note on the Main Image Installed in the Badrinath Temple
Is it an old image of a Tirthankara ?
T. M. BOTHRA
On the opposite page are two pictures of the principal image in the Badrinath temple, one of nirvāṇa abhişeka, devoid of its decoration, another of sṛngāra, with its decorations. Along with these are a painting of the same image from a 17th century Jaina scroll. The similarity between the image at the time of nirvana abhişeka and that of scroll painting is the most striking.
Perhaps the Badrinath image is the only one of its kind in India where the deity (Narayana) is shown to be in a sitting posture of meditation. We have hundreds of such images of Tirthankaras in meditation from all over India. Besides, the Badrinath image is very old, mutilated, but clearly it has only two hands placed on the laps, one above the other, as is done in case of Tirthankaras. Besides, the Rawal, who is exclusively in charge of the daily worship of the image, takes his food once a day and that too during the day-time, and never at night and do not eat things like potatoes which grow beneath the ground. These have a close similarity with the habits of a Jaina worshipper and are added reasons to create the belief that the image must have been that of a Tirthankara. The holy words chanted at the time of nirvāṇa abhişeka too are not the same as is used in a Hindu temple.
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