Temple of Satrunjaya

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

Page 78

to contain a hundred and two stone and metal images, three pañcatrtīhi, seven siddha-cakra and two Seth and Sethani. To the east of the temple are three or four shrines, built by Lalubhai Panachand, Nagindas Hemabhai, Javherabai, the daughter of Nathu Sobhag and Hemabhai Vakhatchand in 1829 and 1832.
The court, which measures fully ninety feet each way, is surrounded by cells or cloisters (bhāmati) on three sides; and each cell has its images and is surmounted by a spire, whilst in front runs an arcade with small domes on the roof. There are fourteen of these cells on the north, as many on the south, and thirteen on the west side. Outside the gate in a small garden is a shrine over a pair of feet of Gautama Svami, the principal disciple of Mahavira. 132
Temples of Modi Premchand and
Ratanchand
Plates 19, 20: Javherachand
Coming out of this and passing a tank on the south side of it, we enter the most westerly tuk on this summit,--that of Modi Premchand Lalchand of Ahmedabad 133. It contains three principal temples, some small ones, a shrine over the gate, and (like the Caumukh and other
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From the information supplied to Major Mackenzie by Carukirti Acarya, the Jaina pontiff at Belgola, it appears that Gomatesvara or Gautamesvara Svami is considered by the Dravida Jainas as the younger son of Vrsabhanatha by Sunandadevi, and consequently identical with Bahubali (vide ante p.6). The Acarya says that after Bharata Cakravarti had ruled over Bharatak setra for a considerable time, "he appointed his younger brother, Gomatesvara Svami to the government. Then abandoning the (karma) actions or affections of mankind, he obtained the fruits of his sacred contemplation, and proceeded to moksa, or heavenly salvation. Gomatesvara Svami, after he was charged with the government, ruled for a considerable time, in a town named Padmanabhapura; in the end, he attained beatitude (nirvana) in heaven, and departed thither. Since his death, the people worship him, in all respects as Jinesvara, or god." In Mysore the twenty-four Tirthankaras are worshipped in the temples called Basti, which are roofed; but in those known as Bettu, signifying 'a hill', and consisting of an open area surrounded by a wall, the only image is that of Gomata Raja, who is always represented naked and of colossal size. The image at Karkala, said to have been made about A.D. 1432, is 38 feet in height; and another at Belgola is at least 54 feet high.-Asiat. Res., Vol. IX, pp. 260, 285.
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"Nothing", says Colonel Tod, writing in 1822, "can better exemplify the omnipotence of wealth, than the circumstance that the name of the plebeian Modi, of but half a century's duration, should extinguish that of the illustrious Samprati Raja, who flourished in the second century of Vikrama, and who has left so many superb memorials of his piety, greatness, and good taste, in the temples of Ajmer and Komalmer, being, moreover, universally recognised by the Jainas as the greatest and best of their princes, since Srenika, king of Rajagrha, to the present time, not even excepting the lords of Anahilawada. I am indebted for
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