Jainism in Bihar

Author(s): P C Roy Choudhary
Publisher: P C Roy Choudhary Patna

Page 97

the place as Mabasolo and mentions in his account that he found there a temple of Parsva Nath with eight Jain images and each of these images, excepting one, had an inscription. The temple and the relics seen by HiuenTsiang have now disappeared. Some Rathor Jains of Marwar had settled at Masarh in the 14th Century A.D. and an inscribed Jain image bearing the date of 1386 could be seen at Masarh. There is also another Paras Nath Mandir constructed by Shankarlal of Arrab in Vikram Samvat 1819 with an inscription that the image of Paras Nath was dedicated by him during the English rule over Karusha Desa.
The town of Arrah, the headquarters of the district of Shahabad, has a number of Jain temples some of which are old and some are modern. At Dhanpura, a suburb of Arrah town there are several shrines of Jains. In all there are 44 Jain temples in Arrah and its suburbs and one io Dalmia Nagar. Some of these recent temples are fine specimens of modern art. Usually sculptors from Jaipur had been brought to construct these temples. In Shri Samaveda Sikbar Mandir in Arrah Sri Hara Prasad Das Jain has set up in marble the famous places like Parasnath Hill and the images of 24 Tirthankars. The expert Jaipur sculptors have been able to give a very good account of themselves and have produced a poem in marble. There is also the fine specimen of modern. Jaipur art in the image of Sri Bahubali on the grounds of Sri Jain Vala Visrama at Dhanpura. This is a copy of the famous image of Bahubali Swami in Shrawan Bela Gola in Mysore State. This statue in Arrah is 15 feet bigh and weighs 250 maunds. It has been located in a temple with big domes and in the midst of a beautiful garden. The Jaipur sculptors have shown an exquisite piece of workmanship. It was a strenuous task to transport this image from distant Jaipur and to fix it up in the compound of Sri Jain Bala Visrama in Arrah without even a crack to the fine figure.