Book Title: Jainism in Bihar
Author(s): P C Roy Choudhary
Publisher: P C Roy Choudhary Patna

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Page 104
________________ Regarding these two temples the following is the description in the Patna District Gazetteer (1924) :-"At Patna there are two temples in the quarter known as Kamaldab near the railway station*. One, built on a big mound of brick ruins, bears an inscription stating that in 1848 (Samvat) the congregation dwelling at Pataliputra began the building of the temple of the illustrious Sthulabhadra. This saint was the patriarch of the early Jain church in the first part of the third century B. C., at the time when the canon of the Swetambar sect was collected by the Council of Pataliputra. According to local tradition, he died at this spot, which is now a favourite place of pilgrimage amongst the Jains. In the lower temple is a sbrine dedicated to Sudarsan, where the attendant priest paints every morning a fresh footprint in saffron on a block of stone, and near the door is a pinda or food offering to the fierce deity, Bhairab". According to tradition Sudarsan obtained Nirvana at the temple of Bhairab in Patna City. In Patna City there is a famous well known as “Agam Kuan". The meaning of the word “Agam" is unfathomable and the origin of the well is also mysterious. This big well is situated to the south-west of Gulzarbagh railway station and by the side of the new bye-pass road to Patna. Yuan Chwang, it is believed, identified this well with Asoka's hell which is said to have contained cauldrons of boiling water. Colonel Waddell is responsible for a story that a Jain priest, Sudarsan, was flung into the furnace by the order of the King of Pataliputra, but the Jain priest remained unscalded. The story is that the King on being convinced of the Jain Muni's spiritual power, released him at once and settled him in the vicinity of the well. The Jain Seth, Sudarsan, is supposed to have been born at Champa Nagari, but he obtained bis Nirvana in Patna. The Nirvana Temple of *This refers to Gulzarbagh railway station in between Patna City and Patna Junction railway stations (P. C. Roy Choudhury) 88

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