Shri Udaipur Tirth

udaypur1.jpg (6347 bytes)

Mulnayak: Nearly 84 cms high, white-colored idol of Bhagawan Chanda Parshvanath without a hood and in the Padmasana posture.
Tirth: It is on the palace road in the Udaipur city. Bus service and private vehicles are available. It is a major city of Rajasthan for pilgrims and tourists. Boarding  and lodging facilities are there.

Art and Architecture: Future tirthanakar
Historicity: Udaipur, so named after Udai Singh who founded the present city in 1572.Chittorgarh had fallen to the Mughals The Shitalanatha Shvetambara Mandir, sacred to the tenth Tirthankara and located close to the Clock Tower in the heart of the city, is said to have been founded on the very day and year as the Royal Palace. Construction of the nearby Jagdish Hindu temple began about sixty years later. The 'glass' temple, as the Shitalanatha Mandir is usually called, is much larger than its position in a narrow street does suggest; it has a library and two big rooms for Jaina ascetics. Westerners interested in the Jaina religion should not hesitate to inquire - in this or any other temple - whether there is a monk or nun in temporary residence and if it would be all right to call on him or her. On the opposite side of the same street, called Bada Bazar, a short distance hence, there are some more Jaina temples. Located near Bandor House in a lane deviating from the Clock Tower to the south, there is an old Digainbara Adinatha temple which has an exact replica of Sammeta Shikhara carved in marble at the scale of one inch to one hundred feet; a unique piece not to be found elsewhere in India

Behind the Chetak Cinema in the vicinity of Chetak Circle, a major landmark of Udaipur, there is found, set in a quiet garden, a big Shvetainbara temple named Sethi ki Badi Mandir the front wall of which is adorned with murals typical of this city. Another Jaina temple worth visiting is known by the name of Chougan ka Mandir, situated on the road from Chetak Circle to Swaroop Lake. The special attraction of this temple is the marble statue of a seated Jina which is worshipped as the first Tirthankara of the next time cycle. There are two more temples within the same compound, dedicated to Shantinatha and Mahavira respectively, as well as a secondary school, a club, a,Jaina bhojan-shala  and the Shri Vijaya Shanti Shiksa Bhavan.

The road from the Dehli Gate to Ahad (also Ahar), the site of four ancient Jaina temples, passes through Ashok Nagar. In Road No. 10 of this suburb there is a Digarnbara temple in which super-size enlargements of coloured photographs depicting Jaina holy places are on permanent display (some of them are by the present author). As the local taxi and rickshaw drivers do not seem to be well conversant with the locations of Udaipur's Jaina temples, it is advisable to ask for a guide at the Shvetambara dharmashala in Hathipol Road or at the Digambara dharmashala nearby. On this pinnacled temple of Bhagawan Chanda Parshvanath, there is an inscription, of the year 1325 of the Vikram era. This ancient temple was renovated by Rugnathsinh in the year 1982 of the Vikram era. Glazed tiles on the walls and the painting of clay on the ceiling are attractive. This idol of Parshvanath in Udaipur is also called the Udiyakar Parshvanath. There are as many as forty other temples.

Trust: Shri Chanda Parshvanath Jain Derasar, Outside Thatera Street, Palace Road, Udaipur - 464770, State : Rajasthan, India.