Staff Correspondent
It is built in marble at a cost of Rs. 3 crore
HUBLI: The “Navagraha Tirtha” at Varur near Hubli, where the 61-foot monolithic statue of Bhagavan Parshwanath is installed along with the statues of eight other Tirthankaras, will not be the sole reason for Jain pilgrims to visit Hubli from now onwards.
The commercial city, which has a sizeable population of Jains, now has another place of religious importance for them. A “jinalaya” (Jain Temple) said to be the biggest Jain South Temple in Southern India has been built in here.
The Srimad Rajachandra Jnana Mandir Trust, Hubli, which has been spreading the message of Jain seer Sri Rajachandra for the past 50 years, has now built a huge Jain temple at Arihanthnagar near Keshwapur in the city.
Built at a cost of Rs. 3 crore, the temple spread over 24,000 sq. ft and has three floors. While the ground floor houses the marble statue of Sri Rajachandra, carved at Jaipur, the first floor houses the ‘Panchaloha’ statue of Sri Adinath, which was carved at Palithana, the Jain pilgrim centre in Gujarat, The top floor has a statue of Tirthankara Bhagavan Parshwanath installed.
While the whole temple has been built using marble, the big ‘Panchaloha’ statue of Sri Adinath weighs around 4,000 kg. Both these aspects are likely to add to the magnificence of the temple, which has delicate and beautiful carvings. The temple also has several statues and carvings highlighting Jain traditions.
Rituals
The Trust has organised a six-day function that will culminate with the formal installation of the statues on Wednesday and the inauguration of the ‘Mahadwara’ on Thursday.
The rituals leading to the main function already began from Saturday and every day hundreds of Jains from various places are participating in them.
Trust office-bearers told The Hindu that hundreds of Jains from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and various places in Karnataka had reached Hubli and were participating in the rituals. They said around 10,000 people were visiting the temple every day, and on Tuesday the number was likely to double as a huge procession had been planned in the city. The number of pilgrims attending the event was further likely to increase on Wednesday as the installation of the statues would take place on the day, they added.
Many of them are also visiting the “Navagraha Tirtha” at Varur near Hubli, where the tallest monolithic statue (61 feet, 185 tonnes) of Bhagavan Parshwanath, in the Khadgasana Mudra, mounted on a 48-ft pedestal, was installed.
