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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
Jaina Gali, Mathura; (10) Śrī 1008 Jambūsvāmī Digambara Jaina Siddhakṣetra temple, Chaurasi, Mathura.33
The principal Jaina temple in Mathura stands in the Keshopur locality.34 The site is called Chaurasi,35 and the temple is also popularly called Chaurasi.36 The site where this Jaina temple stands is called Śrī 1008 Jambūsvāmi Digambara Jaina Siddhakṣetra, Chaurasi by the Jainas.37 F.S. Growse felt that this site is called Chaurasi for some unexplained reasons.38 But the Jainas hold that it was at this site that Jambūsvāmī attained nirvana at the age of eighty-four years and it was probably due to this happening that this site came to be known as Chaurasi.39
The Jaina temple at Chaurasi, Mathura was built by Mani Ram,40 sometimes in the nineteenth century."1 Mani Ram enshrined in it an image of tirthamkara Candraprabha.42 Sometime about the middle of the nineteenth century, 43 Mani Ram's grandson Seth Raghunath Das, brought a large marble statue of tīrthamkara Ajitanatha from Gwalior.45 It is the aforesaid image of Ajitanatha which occupies the pride of place in the Jaina temple at Chaurasi, Mathura.46 It is said that Jambusvāmī practised penance at this
33. Introductory Booklet, pp. 1-6.
34. MDM, p. 12; DGM, 1911, p. 82.
35. Ibid., p. 13; ibid., p. 83; Introductory Booklet, p. 1.
36. Ibid., p. 13; ibid., p. 83.
37. Introductory Booklet, p. 1.
38. MDM, p. 13.
39. Introductory Booklet, p. 1.
40. MDM, p. 13; DGM, 1911, p. 83; Introductory Booklet, pp. 1-2.
41. Ibid., pp. 12-13; ibid., pp. 82-3.
42.
Ibid., p. 13; ibid., p. 82.
43. DGM, 1911, p. 82
44. MDM, p. 14.
45.
Ibid., p. 13; DGM, 1911, p. 82; Introductory Booklet, pp. 2-3. 46. Ibid.; ibid.; ibid., p. 3.
