Temple of Satrunjaya

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

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called the temple of Velabai, is of the sort known as Caumukh, that is, 'four-faced', the shrines always containing four images of the Tirthankara, seated back to back, on a square pedestal or throne, so as to face the four cardinal points. This temple dates from A.D. 1734, and contains in all sixty-four images, and eight caraña or padukā, pairs of feet.
We have now reached the gate of Pundarika, at both ends of which two elephants are constructed in plaster of the wall. This gate leads into the inner enclosure of the Kharataravasi tuk, sometimes called the cauk or square of Sava Somji, a wealthy Sravaka of Ahmedabad, of the Kharatara gachha, who repaired or rebuilt the shrines and surrounded them with a wall in 1618, and whose munificence tradition has been careful not to diminish. So enormous was the cost we are told, that the sum of eighty four thousand rupees were expended in cordage alone to bring up the materials, and a sum not greatly less to transport from the marble quarries of Makhrana in Marwad, the single block from which the principal image in the great temple was cut, while, according to the Mirat-iAhmadi, the total amount he expended on the works he executed here was forty-eight laks of rupees.
The gate of Pundarika is the proper entrance to the sacred enclosures of Adisvara, and we meet with it the entrance to other squares. Over this gate is the shrine dedicated to Pundarika, the leader or Ganadhara of Adinatha. It was erected in 1618 by Surjinath of Ahmedabad and consists of three rooms, containing fifty-three images of Pundarika, etc., and a hundred and thirty pairs of feet.
Plates 6 to 12: The Caumukh Temple
The principal temple on this tuk is known as the Caumukh. It is a fine pile, and being one of the largest and most complete, it may be described with some detail, as a type of most of the larger temples here.
The original is said to date back to king Vikrama, but it was rebuilt in its present form by Sava Somji in A.D. 1618, for in the inscribed plate we read :
Samvat 1675, in the time of Sultan Nur-ud-din Jahangir, Sowai Vijaya Raja. and the Princes Sultan Khoshru and Khuram, on Saturday, Baisakh Suddh 13th, Devaraja and his family, of which were Somji and his wife Rajaldevi, executed the temple of the four-faced Adinatha, etc.
It stands on a platform raised fully two feet above the level of the court, and 57 feet wide by about 67 in feet length, but the front of the
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