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CHAPTER VI
PITTALAHARA (TEMPLE BUILT BY BHIMĀ
SHĀHA)
The shrine of Bhimā Shāha (Fig. 53) is so called because it was built by Bhimā Shāha of the Gurjara caste, as can be gathered by references in the Arbudagiri-kalpa, the Guruguņaratnākara-kāvya and from the inscriptions in the navachoki and on the mūlanāyaka image of this shrine. A big metal image of Shri Ādinātha was installed as the chief deity of the shrine. From the inscriptions at Achalagadh it seems that this original image was later removed to a Jaina shrine at Kumbhalameru in Mevād. The present figure of the Mūlanāyaka is also a big sculpture of Ādinātha ( with attendant parikara ) cast in metal (mainly brass-, Pittala hence the name Pittala-hara given to this shrine ). This figure was the gift of Ministers Sundara and Gadā, installed in V. S. 1525. This date has led some people to believe that the shrine itself was erected in V.S. 1525, but the inference is not supported by the facts noted below.
An inscription on a Surahi stone, outside the gate of this shrine, carved in V.S. 1489, 1 shows that at that time three Jaina temples existed at Delvādā; an inscription dated in the year 1494 V.S., preserved in the Digambara shrine at Delvāļā, refers to this temple also; a third inscription dated in V.S. 1497, preserved in the shrine of Shri-Mátā, refers to this shrine as the Pittalahara temple; and an inscription on a pillar in the gūļhamaņņapa of this shrine itself, dated in V.S. 1497, refers to income from certain tolls reserved for the maintenance of this shrine, a
1 Ābu, Vol. II. Inscription no. 248. ? Ābu, Vol. II, Inscription no. 426,
