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CHAPTER VIII
ORIYA
1
About three and half miles to the North-East of Delvāḍā. is the small village of Oriya. On the road to Achalgadh from Delvāḍā, at a distance of about three miles is a small rest-house with a water-shed for travellers, maintained by the managers of the Achalgadh shrines. About 3 furlongs further is situated a Dak-bungalow of the old Sirohi State. From here there is a kachcha-road taking one to the old village of Oriya, referred to as Oriyāsakapura, Orisāgrāma, Orāsāgrāma in Sanskrit texts. Here stands a shrine of Shri Mahāvīrasvāmi, rather old and fairly big, erected by the Shvetambara community (Samgha ) of the place. It is at present managed by the Trustees of Achalgadh shrines. At present there are no Jainas staying here, nor is there a rest-house or an upāshraya for Jaina monks. To the south of this shrine is an old shrine of Koteshvara (Kanakhaleshvara) Mahadeva discussed in the eleventh chapter of this work. The visitor has to come back a little from Oriya by a small foot-path to take the road to Achalagadh. The Dak-bungalow at Oriya, it may be noted, is at a distance of 4 miles from the Rājputānā Hotel. Jaina shrine of Shri Mahavira-Svāmi.
The late Rai Bahadur Mahāmahopadhyāyai Gaurishankar Oza has noted that a sculpture of Shri Mahāvīrasvāmi is installed as the mūlanayaka in this shrine and that an image of Shri Parshvanatha and another of Shri Shāntinātha occupy the two sides of the central image. 2
1 For a fuller account of Oriya, see, Abu Vol. III (Achalgaḍh, in Gujarāti ), by Muni Jayantavijaya.
2 Sirohi Rajyaka Itihasa, P. 77
