Jain Journal 1980 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 41

A Note on the First Stone-built Jain Temple at Madras
There are about twenty-three Jain temples in and around Madras City. They are located in concrete made buildings and not built of stone. But the local Jain residents of T. Nagar have filled up this gap by raising a stone-built temple at G. N. Chetty Road, T. Nagar a suburb of the City. (see frontispiece)
Limestone and soft stone from Gujarat, marble from Rajasthan and building materials from many other parts of the country have all been brought together to build the City's newest temple, a 5-lakh rupee, 30-meters high masterpiece of nothern architectural elegance-the Shree Shantinath Jain Mandir, stated to be the first of its kind in the South. It is a dazzling creation in white, so different from the towering multihued or rock-like gopurams of the South. And to reach its elevated sanctum, high above the ground, a magnificent flight of steps sweeps up from G. N. Chetty Road in T. Nagar.
The Pratistha Ceremony of this magnificent temple was performed by Acarya Vikram Suriswaraji Maharaj in accordance with tradition and scriptural injunctions.
-V. G. Nair