Jain Shwetambar Tirth Shree Antariksh Parshwanath

Author(s): Jambuvijay
Publisher: Sumtilal Ratanchand Patni

Page 68

પાશ્વનાથ
[ 43 ]
In the temple at Shirpur there is an ancient idol, “ Shri Antariksha Parasnath Maharaj,” believed by the Swetambaris to be self-existent. The deity is held in deep veneration by them, also by the Digambaris. It has apparently been a subject of controversy time out of mind whether it is a Swetambari or a Digambari idol, and whether as originally existent it was covered at the waist by a tie or band carved out of the stone or sand of which it is composed-as the Swetambaris assert-or whether, it being apparently agreed that the private parts are not visible to the worshipper, this resulted not from any tie or band, or other physical covering but from the actual posture of the idol itself, as is the contention of the Digambaris. The Swetam. baris had been used from time to time to plaster the idol's body as a result of which that which was alleged by them to be a self-existent waist band had in the Digambari view been produced and the immediate occasion of the suit was that on the 13th February, 1908, the defendants 1 to 7, with other Digambaris acting in the interest of the sect, chiselled, as the plaintiffs alleged, by means of iron instruments, the alleged self-existent tie and waistband from the body of the idol and removed the plaster and erased the lines on its hands and ears, outraging thereby the religious feelings of the Swe