Remains are of a Jain temple, says monk

DNA
Vadodara: The remnants of an ancient temple, which were found on the SSG hospital premises during digging a few days back, are of an ancient Jain temple. This was claimed by a Jain monk who visited the site on Monday. The remnants included an arc, some carved stones and an idol.

MSU vice-chancellor, Ramesh Goel, has appointed a committee to investigate the matter and submit a detailed report in this regard.

The remnants were found while digging was going on for construction of an auditoriumat the SSG hospital. Dr Adish Jain, who was passing by the place, saw the sand stones found at the site.
On a close look, he was astonished to see carvings on the stone. He immediately informed senior officials of the hospital about it, and soon the archaeology department officials were informed about the remnants.

According to a team of archaeology department, which visited the spot, it was difficult to state whether the remnants were of a Jain temple or Hindu temple, as the architecture of both kinds of temples are more or less the same.

Senior members of the Jain Youth Association, along with Jain monk Niranjansagar Suriswarji Maharaj Saheb visited the spot on Monday.

After observing the carvings and stones, he said these were the remnants of a Jain temple. Talking to DNA, association's principal Deepak Shah said, "The remnants belong to a jain temple, thought to be of the pre-Moghul era. MSU V-C, along with senior members of the university also visited the spot. He has appointed a committee to investigate the matter and file a detailed report. We have demanded conservation of the temple's remnants as this is a part of our ancient heritage."

It may be noted at this juncture that in 1992-93 idol of a Jain Tirthankar was found during the stone installation ceremony of the urological department at the SSG hospital. In 2001-02, some other sandstones were also found on the hospital premises. According to investigations, they belonged to 14th century. Before that, some coins and an idol were found in 1951-52 from the SSG hospital premises.

The archaeology department has initiated investigations to get information about the remnants found.

Lord Parshwanath as Vishnu, Padmavati as Durga!

Recently I visited Udaygiri-Khandgiri caves near Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa. While other devotee Jains were putting their heads on the feet of Lord Adinath and others at the Jain temple on the hill, I took a chance to visit a so called Hindu temple in the mid of the hill.

This Hindu temple is nothing but two Jain caves with beautiful ancient Jain idols. Jain pilgrims rarely visit these caves and miss many things that they must know.

photo: Parshwanath converted to Vishnu

Photo: A Panda in front of Jain idols When I visited the cave, a hindu Pandya in saffron and yellow cloths was standing in front of an idol of a Godess at the right side wall of the cave. I entered the cave and saluted him. Then I saluted the Godess and asked, 'who is she?' 'She is Maa Parvati' he replied. Then I went to the front wall and found that there were a row of 24 black idols of Jain Teerthankars followed by 24 Goddesses, which are called as Shasan Devis by Jains. However, to know wahat the Pandya says, I asked him, 'Which Godd and Godesses these are?' 'In upper row, they are 24 avatars of Lord Vishnu, and the Goddesses here are avatars of Maa Parvati' he said. 'Can I take some photographs?' I asked the pandya. He allowed me to do it. I found that the idol of Lord Parshwanath was converted to Lord Vishnu by wearing him cloths. The same thing was done with the idol of Padmavati to convert her in Durgadevi. I took some photographs on my digital camera. When I was leaving the cave, the Pandya told me that there is another cave at left and suggested me to go there. So I went there and saw a young and dirty pandya with a saffron dhoti and a thread on his chest had seated in front of the beautifully carved Jain idols on the front wall. I took a photograph of the front wall along with him. Then I requested him to move from there to take photographs of just the wall. He went out. There were more Jain idols on the left and right side wall of the cave.I took a lot of photographs in that cave also. Later I discussed the issue with the manager of the Jain dharmshala. He was surprised that how could I got entrance there as the Pandyas do not allow Jains to come there. I said immediately 'because I didn't go there as a Jain'. He told, 'The Pandyas are making thousands of Rupees per day from Hindu pilgrims' I think this is one more case of converting Jain idols to Hindu one.

750 year old Jain idols found near Ahmedabad

750 year old Jain idols found near Ahmedabad Dec 13
(UNI)

Thousands of people gathered to see the Jain idols, dating back to the 13th Century, that were found in Sarkhej area of the city.

According to Y S Rawat, Director of state archaeology department, the idols and relics, found yesterday evening, dated back to the 13th century. One of the major finds was a Jain idol that dates back to 1286 A D. Some images along with a Jain patt with 24 carved figurines of Jain Tirthankars have been recovered.

The relics were discovered while digging work was on by Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) behind Koteshwar Mahadev temple in Sarkhej area.In all 22 statues and statuettes were recovered which have been handed over to the archaeology department.

Among the idols, one had 1,343 engraved on it.