Osiaji Mahavira Temple

Author(s): Rabindra J Vasavada
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 11

OSIA
Osia is a small village sixty-five kilometers north-east of Jodhpur. It is an important Jaina pilgrimage center for Oswal Jaina community. The Mahavira Temple built here in A. D. 783 is an important tirtha for Jaina built by Pratihara King Vatsaraja. The Jaina Harivamsa Purana refers to Vatsaraja's rule in Saka year 705 (A. D. 783). He must have held sway over Upakesapura, i.e., Osian as an inscriptions of v. s. 1013 (A. D. 956) found from there refers to this place. In Nabhinandanajirnodhara Prabandha (henceforth NJP), Upakesapura has been described as the 'Svastika' (a mystical mark denoting good luck) of the earth, an ornament of the desert endowed with natural beauty where the groves are full of trees and the noble ascetics are wifeless (adara), but amongst the citizens none are like that; where the beautiful damsels and the peacocks educate each other without formal instructions merely by observing each other's graceful gait; where the tanks are replete with fully blossomed lotuses and the nocturnal darkness is dispelled by the light emanating from the luminous gems and where the rays of moon entering during the night through latticed windows in the houses of fair ladies, separated from their spouses, appear like the silver-arrows hurled by Cupid. Shorn of its usual literary exaggerations, the description does indicate that Osian was an important flourishing town then. The derivation of the cast name Oswal from Osia - the place name also sounds acceptable as it is a common practice in India to derive the family names from place names. It is conjectured from several evidences that the people of Osian were converted to Jainism by Shri Ratnaprabhasuriji, who had impressed the populace of the region by his supernatural powers. A niche in Mahavira Temple contains sculpture of interwined snakes which also is worshipped by Oswal Jaina, as adhisthatr - devetas. This leads us to believe that a sizeable part of the populace in that period may have belonged to naga extraction. Nagabhatta was a Pratihara ruler of Mandor. It is said that the Nagabhatta must have defeated the nagas and so he must have been given the name Nagabhatta which means 'master of nagas'. Nagabhatta the son of Narbhatta of Mandor line established his capital at Merta near Nagpur, whose old name was Nagapura. The Pratiharas may have conquered these areas from the nagas. Nagapriyagachha of Jaina also indicates in the same