Temple of Satrunjaya

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

Page 90

of this temple rather than to separate buildings on different sites. It runs thus: "The first building was erected by Bharata; the next by the eighth in descent from him, Dhandavirya; the third by Isanendra, a devatā or god; the fourth by Mahendra; the fifth by Brimindra; the sixth by Bhavarhatti; the seventh by Sagara Cakravarti, a universal potentate; the eighth by Vinitendra; the ninth by Candrajasa; the tenth by Cakrayudha; the eleventh by Raja Tamacandra; the twelfth by the Pandava Brothers; the thirteenth by Javada Sah, a merchant of Kashmir, one hundred years after Vikramaditya; the fourteenth by Bahirdeva Mehta, minister to Raja Siddha Raja of Anahilawada; the fifteenth by Samara Sarang, uncle to the king of Dehli, in S. 1371; the sixteenth by Karma Dosi, 'the slave of good works', minister of Chitod, in S. 1578."142. The earlier of these founders or restorers may be rejected as mythical, but a Jaina account obtained on the spot states that 'this temple was built by Javada Sah in Samvat 1018 (A.D. 961) being its thirteenth uddhara or restoration, and it is there to the present day.' Then Bahada, the minister of Kumarapala spent two crores and ninety-seven lakhs in constructing a stone temple', 143 and possibly in restoring this in A.D. 1154. Next we find it further stated by Merutunga that "in Samvat 1371 (A.D. 1314) on account of troubles from the Yavanas (Muhammadans), when the image of Javada was lost, a new one was set up by Samaraka", the same person as Tod's Samara Sarang. The local account goes on to say that 'in Javada's temple was placed a statue-the sixteenth uddhāra by Karma Sah of Chitod in the year Samvat 1587 (A.D. 1530). This agrees with the statement in one of the inscriptions in the vestibule of the temple of which the following144 is a translation:
The manner of constructing the temple of the great and ever-to-be praised Adisvarji is here exactly written; He is our god and the master of all. This temple was begun in the reign of Bahadur Shah, son of Mahmud Shah, king of Gujarat, in the year Samvat 1582, by Dosi Karma Sah, the agent of Mujad Khan, Diwan of the Kingdom. The Satrunjaya Hill is also called Citrakot Narnor. It is necessary to record that the temple of Adisvarji will be constructed altogether at sixteen different times: this of Dosi Karma Sah is the 7th. Where is it erected? On the Palitana Hill by one strong in the Jaina faith, and for the ornament of the sacred mountain.
Throughout Gujarat, and in the opinion of all persons of consequence, this hill is the choicest of all hills; whoever offers up his
142 Tod, Travels in Western India, pp. 280, 281.
143
144
Dr. Bhau Daji, Jour. Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc., Vol. IX. p. 156.
This translation, prepared by Capt. (now General) Le Grand Jacob, was published in the Jour. Bom. Br. R. As. Soc., Vol. I. pp. 57-59. Unfortunately the original was not published with it, "the 7th consecration" is probably an error for "the 16th".
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