11th century Jain statue found

Kshitiz Gaur,TNN

AJMER: A medium-sized black stone statue of 17th Jain Tirth-ankar Kuntunath, dating back to 11th century, has emerged during excavations in holy town of Pushkar, about 15 kms from here.

The statue is one of the more than 36 statues found in last one year at old Pushkar and Ghat areas of the region. The discoveries con-firms of a religious congregation being held at the place some time in the medieval period.

Eighteen more such statues have been discovered in old Pushkar alone, including a Shivling of nearly one thousand year old, rare statue of god Kartikeya, statue of Vishnu and more Jain Tirthankar statues.

The statue of Jain Tirthankar Kuntunath in a meditating posture appeared when renovation work was going on at the famous Varaha temple in Pushkar. It bears characteristics of Jain architecture - curly hair, sharp features on face, etc. The style of meditation is also peculiar of Jain philosophy.

The statues have been kept in the government museum at Akbar Fort in Ajmer. Archaeologists and historians are studying different perspectives of new scripts of Chouhan dynasty of 11th century.

Two months ago, more than 20 statues were found during construction work on a personal land near Jat Vishramsthali behind the famous Bramha temple. The work containing scriptures in Ingal and Pingal, local dialects spoken during 10th century, and representing the meditation postures, dates between 6th and 11th centuries.

"These new discovery shows that Jainism flourished well at the time of Hindu ruler Prithvi Raj Chouhan,"said Akbar Fort museum superintendent Syeed Ajam Hussein. "Pushkar has the importance of multi-religious studies. The statues are in very good condition,"he said, adding that the statues bear pure art of Jain sculptures and therefore have significance for the scholars and archaeologists.

About 8 years ago, a metallic statue pertaining to Jain religion was also found in the area which dated back to more than two thousand years. "The period is important because that was the time when the region was ruled by Hindu kings, and Ghajnis invaded the land,"added Ajam.

"Pushkar is an ancient city and clues are there that Vikramaditya of 6th century had studied in Pushkar. The land has more treasure dug under it,"said a Pushkar-based archaeologist Rajendra Yagnik. "More than 4 times, the university at Pushkar was ruined by the invaders. This university was unique with Samkhya, Yoga and Jain philosophies being taught there,"he said, adding, "A group of Italian archaeologists also visited the place and gathered information of scriptures found here."

Grand Mahavir Janm Kalyanak Celebration by Digamber Jains of Bangkok

May 11, 2008
by Digamber Jain Samaj, Bangkok

Mahavir Janm Kalyanak, auspicious Vedi Shuddhi and Sthapana of 1008 Shri Mahavir Swami's five (5) panchdhatu Jin Pratimaji were collectively celebrated by Digamber Jain Samaj with full vigor at Bangkok, Thailand Mandir Ji from 18th to 20th April 2008. Around 25-30 Sadharmi bandhus also traveled all the way from India and other parts of the world to participate in this wonderful event.

The whole event was well organized and successfully completed by Samaj's enthusiastic members under the able guidance of the Shreshtha Acharya of present time, Shri 108 Vidhyasagar Ji Maharaj's disciple, Brahmachari and two Pratimadhari Shri Sanju Bhaiya Katangi. He skillfully performed all rituals and Vidhans with his thorough knowledge and understanding of Vidhis.

The Bangkok Digamber Jain Mandir was established in a small office space of one of the committee members around 3 years ago by bringing one Pratishthit panchdhatu Jin Bimb of Lord Mahavir Swami from Kishangarh, Rajasthan. At that time there were only 40-50 known Digamber Jain families in Bangkok. Today the number has grown up to around 100 families.

During this auspicious celebration, sthapana of 4 pratisthit Jin Bimbs of Lord Mahavir Swami recently brought from Jaipur was completed on a very beautiful 7 feet high Sarvobhadra Chaturdig Stambh and Mulnayak Lord mahavir's previous Jin Bimb was placed in the well decorated marble Parikar.

It is important to mention here that the Sarvobhadra marble (Chaturdig) Stambh and white marble Parikar were built in Kishangarh under the expert guidance of well known Pratishthachari from Jaipur, Shri Rajkumarji Kothari, who also specially flew to Bangkok few days ago for the vidhivat installation of Chathrdig Stambh and Parikar. Bangkok Jain Samaj is grateful to him for all his time and help in completing this Mandir in every sense for the wellbeing of DJF, Bangkok Samaj.

Shravaks took vow from Brahmachari Shri Sanju Bhaiya of doing Jin Bimb Prakshalan at least once in a week and all Shravikas present also took the vow of doing Ashtdravya Poojan once a week which created a new milestone. Shri Sanju Bhaiya gave full credit for all these achievements to his Guruvar Acharya Shri 108 Vidhyasagar Ji Maharaj. Bangkok Digamber Jain Samaj has requested him to come again and again in future also for the Jain Dharma Prabhavana.

It is hertening to note that several DJF members have already decided to plan a trip to India in December '08 for the audience with Acharya Shri 108 Vidhyasagar Ji Maharaj and his darshan.

It is really a proud moment for DJF, Bangkok as this is 3rd Digamber Jain Mandir in a City outside India (2 other Digamber Jain Mandir are located in London and Nairobi).

It was indeed a very colorful, memorable and once in life time event for all DJF (Digamber Jain Foundation) members. Our hearty congratulations to all Digamber jain Samaj members for making this event successful and memorable. Jains from all parts of the world are welcome to visit Our Bangkok Jain Mandir.

Please visit Blog http://www.djfmandir.blogspot.com/ for the colorful photos of this and earlier events. For any query or information, you may send e-mail to: