Temple of Satrunjaya

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

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1857, and dedicated to Dharmanatha. On the north side, the next beyond Virdhichand's that of Sah Mithachand Ladha of Patana, built in 1812, facing the east, and dedicated to Candraprabha. The next stands nearer the path and is consequently better seen: it also faces the east, and was built in 1786 by Bohra Kesarisingh Ladha of Surat. It is dedicated to Sambhavanatha. Behind it, to the north, is another large temple built in 1726 by Sah Vadhu Sogidas of Anahilapattana, and at present called the temple of Boghalsah. It is dedicated to Adinatha. A little beyond Bohra's is a smaller temple, with an open portico, on the east, built in 1803 by Manet Dayachand Mayachand, and beside it a marble temple, built at the same time, by Patua Kapurchand Rikhavdas of Sri Mesana, and dedicated to Padmaprabha. The next is very much larger and has a loftier spire than most of those in this enclosure. It is a Caumukh temple with large porticoes on the four sides. It was originally built in 1629 by Manet Jaymalla Jesavala of Jodhpur. Locally it is known as the "temple of a hundred columns" (ŝata-sthamba) though the number of separate pillars outside is only sixty-four. It contains four Caumukh images of Mahavira Svami, etc.
Returning to the temple of Motichand Sivchand on the south side, and again advancing westward, we pass a small temple to Sumatinatha, another built by Parekh Somchand of Ahmedabad in 1625, and a recent one dedicated to Parsvanatha, and then come to that called "the temple of Jagat Seth". If really erected by him, it does not convey a very high idea of the pious munificence of the wealthy banker of Bengal, from whose house at Murshidabad, a party of Maratha horse, under Mir Habib, the Diwan of Orissa, carried off fully two crores of Arkot rupees in April, 1742138 without putting him to serious inconvenience.
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Mill does not give any date, but Sayid Ghulam Husain Khan says it occurred in the month of Safar, of 1155 Hijra. His translator adds in a note, that Jagat Seth Alamchand's house, even in 1786, contained no less than two thousand souls, and that after the loss of the sum mentioned above, equal to two and a half millions sterling-"a loss which would depress any monarch in Europe, affected him so little, that he continued to give Government bills of exchange at sight of full one crore at a time." A recent Hindu writer says, "the famous Seths, of whom Burke remarked in the House of Commons, 'that their transactions were as extensive as those of the Bank of England' and of whom the natives say that they proposed to block up the passage of the Bhagirathi with rupees, are now reduced to the greatest poverty. One of their descendants still lives, and occupies the ancient ancestral residence, which is in a very dilapidated state. He subsisted for many years by the sale of the family jewels, till at last, the British government granted him a monthly pension of 1,200 rupees. His ancestors were reputed to have possessed ten crores of rupess. The tile of Jagat Seth, or Banker of the World, was conferred upon the family by the Emperor of Delhi."-Conf. Mill and Wilson's Hist of British India, (4th ed) Vol. III. p. 157. Seir Mutakharin, Vol. I. p. 426; Bholanath Chunder, Travels of a Hindu, Vol. I. pp. 78, 79.
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