Temple of Satrunjaya

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

Page 88

Khetrapala and a yantra or jantra-a drawing on a sheet of copper; the other built by Trikamji Kahanji of Bombay, with a third built in 1769, are dedicated to Sambhavanatha, the third Tirthankara; a fourth temple in this group was built by Sah Padamsi of Nagar in 1619 A.D., one of these has a deep belt of sculptured figures round the whole temple, reminding one of the old temples at Ambarnatha near Kalyana.
Behind these, and in an enclosure by itself, to the west of the temple of Manet Jayamala is a large temple. It is the only one on the hill belonging to the Digambara sect of Jainas, and was built in 1629 A.D. by a Sanghvi named Raghavji Ramji of the Humada Vania caste and a native of Ahmedabad. The principal mandapa is covered by a large low dome, and it has domed porches on the east, north and south sides, the gambhārā is on the west and is said to contain fourteen images of Santinatha, a statue of a devi or goddess, five metal images, etc. But it is rare to find it open or get access to the interior.
Plate 39 : The Hathi Pole
To the west of the temple of Kumarapala is the Hathi pole or Elephant gate, so named from two elephants in basso relievo in the plaster at the sides of the entrance. Inside this there is an area of about fifty feet wide to the next gate. It contains two small shrines--one of Ganapati, the elephant-headed, pot-bellied, Hindu god of wisdom, the other of Annapurna, the goddess of abundance, a beneficent form of Bhavani,
Plates 40, 41 : The Adisvara Bhagavan
Within the Hathi pole there is another gate, that of the temple of Pundarika Svami, passing through which, the first temple that meets the view is the great temple, the sanctum sanctorum of the tīrtha, the shrine of Mulanayaka Sri Adisvara Bhagavan. "All that is most celebrated for antiquity or sanctity”, says Col. Tod, 140 "is contained in this court: but sectarian animosities, the ambition to be regarded as founders, and the bigotry of other creeds, have all conspired to deface the good works which faith had planted on this holy mount. It is notorious that sectarian zeal, amongst persons of similar faith, is more destructive than the hatred of those of dissimilar creeds; and here, from the mouths of learned Jainas, whose universal law is to 'hurt no sentient being', I became acquainted with the fact, that the wars of their two chief sects, the Tapagachha and Kharatara-gachha, did more than the Islamites to destroy
140
Travels, etc., p. 284.
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