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Chintamani Parshwanath
This temple is near the Mission High School in the Shahpor area of Surat. Originally this 52-Jinalay Shwetambar temple was situated on the road leading from the Mission School to the Variavi Bhagal. It is said that the muslims demolished this temple and built a mosque on its place. This mosque is now known as Sami Masjid. The Jains in their turn built a new temple at a nearby place. Shri Sambhav Jin Stavanavali gives us valuable information regarding the Shwetambar Jain temples in Surat. According to the information given in this book the ceremonial installation of the principal idols of the temple was completed with due rites on Thursday on the full moon day of the month of Chaitra in Vikram Samvat 1699 during the reign of the Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb at the hands of Shri Vruddhisagarsuriji. It was renovated again around 1902. This newly built temple does not have any dome and hence seems to appear like an ordinary house belonging to an ordinary man. Hundreds of Jains come to offer their prayers in this temple on the first day of every lunar month even to day.
This temple belongs to the Vadi Poshal Gachchha, a minor faction of the Swetambar sect. Originally there were fifty two small temples in this complex. But when the temple was renovated, the idol of the principal deity, Shri Chintamani Parshwanath, was installed in the innermost part of the temple and Chovishi - twenty four images of the Tirthankars were installed around this most sacred part. This temple is absolutely unique in the sense that it is the only temple in the whole of the western India where most exquisite examples of the rich tradition of wood carvings, of paintings on wood and of temple architecture in wood are comparatively well preserved even after centuries. Upadhyay Maharaj Shrimad Vinayvijayji has written many stavans or invocatory poems in honour and praise of this temple. A unique feature of the paintings we see on wooden surfaces in the temple is the depiction of the Vyal figure. The Vyal belongs to the realm of fantasy and mythology. It is an extremely strange animal that is conceived of having a combination of the features of an elephant, a lion and a horse.
The idol of Shri Chintamani Parshwanath is believed to be alive with miraculous powers. According to a tradition prevalent among the older devotees of the city, the doors of the temple were closed automatically when the muslims went there to destroy it. At night a poor devotee had a strange dream
Jain Kashthapat Chitra : 37
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