The glory of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Jain Tirtha is unparalleled. Shankheshwar Jain Temple is located in the center of Shankheshwar city in Patan district of India. Facts of Jainism presents you the history of renovation of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Jain Tirth. If you want to know the complete facts of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath, see the full post.
This post is about the renovation of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Temple.
1.The period of Vikram Samvat 1155. At that time, Maharaja Siddharraj Jaisingh was on the throne of Anhilpur Patan, the capital of Gujarat. Maharaja Jayasinghe ruled the state from Vikram Samvat 1150 to 1199. At that time, the Solanki era was in full swing. There was a minister named Sajjan Seth in Siddharth Jai Singh's cabinet .He was very clever and sharp-witted. Siddhartha placed him as the Punisher of the country of Sorath. Gentleman Seth Sorath came to the country. Sajjan Sethe held the post of Sorath Desh's Punisher for several years. During this period he renovated the dilapidated Jinalaya of Shri Neminath Prabhu at Girnar.
Before renovating Neminath Jinalaya from Sajjan Mantri Girnar, he was heard from the teachings of Suripungava that the statue of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanathji is very ancient and miraculous. Sajjan Seth went to Shankheshwar with his family. The gentleman minister saw the dilapidated condition of the holy shrine. Tears dripped from his eyes. With the advice of Shri Devchandrasurishwarji Maharaj, he decided to renovate the shrine and Sajjan Mantri built a new beautiful Jinalaya like Devviman .
In Vikram Samvat 1155, in the new Jinalaya, Sajjan Sethe created a prestige festival by worshiping the idol of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu. Kalikalsarvagna Hemchandracharya and Guruvarya Shri Devchandrasuriji Maharaj seem to have been present at this time of prestige.
2.A few years after this renovation, in the pride of Gujarat, Minister Vastupal-Tejpal has made a great contribution in reviving the political, social, economic as well as religious life of Gujarat. Vastupal Tejpal has renovated 404 Jinprasads. Once Vastupal Tejpal heard the wonderful glory of Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu's Tirtha from the mouth of old Gachchadhipati Shri Vardhamansuriji. Vastupal Tejpal was very impressed by hearing the wonderful supernatural glory of Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu. He talk with Gachchadhipati Shri Vardhaman Suriji about Sangh Yatra and presented the spirit of going on a pilgrimage.
Shri Vardhamansuri Shriji welcomed the spirit of Vastupal-Tejpal and on a certain day under the holy abode of Shri Vardhamansuriji, General Vastupal and Tejpal formed a grand Sangh and visited Shankheshwar Tirth.
Many devotees joined the union. Everyone was unionized. Vastupal Tejpal with his family performed Seva Puja with devotion to Lord Shankheshwar Parshvanath. Vastupal Tejpal performed 1000 Sangh Pujas.
Seeing that the Jinalaya of Shri Sangh Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu was very dilapidated, Vastupal Tejpal renovated the Jinprasad.He was given gold kadash on the top of the revolving fifty-two jinalayas.Vastupal-Tejpal raised the prestige of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanathji Jinalaya after Vikram Samvat 1286 in the presence of other Acharyas including Shrivardhamansuriji Maharaj. The prestige-festival celebrations were grandly concluded. Vastupal-Tejpal used two lakhs of material behind this renovation and prestige of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Jinalaya.
A few years after this renovation, Rana Durjanshalya of Jhunjhupur also renovated these mahatirthas.
3.Then in the second half of the 14th century, Gujarat was occupied by Muslim rulers. At that time, the temple was destroyed by Allauddin Khilji as well as the subsequent Muslim invasion, but at that time, Shri Sangh of Shankheshwar used foresight to bury the idol in the ground.
The aforesaid Jinalaya seems to be outside the present Shankheshwar village. On the way in from the present Shankheshwar village, a high hill is visible at a distance of about half a mile. Then there are the buildings. Experts say the original Jinalaya is there and people seem to be talking. The place has not been explored, but if it is tried, the historical facts will come to light. The ancient village of Shankheshwar is believed to have been settled there. After the Muslim rulers destroyed the Shankheshwar Jinalaya, a new Jinalaya was built in Shankheshwar village with the teachings of Shri Vijaysensurishwarji Maharaja.
4.There is a folktale about the statue of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu that a cow of a resident of this village used to graze in the forest every day and come to the place of Zand Kuva and milk it there. After some time like this, it happened to the owner of the cow that his cow returned to the forest every day to graze, but why did the milk become less?
One day the cowherd went after the cow. After the cow had run out of fodder, Cow came to the place of the well and his milk was spilled. So it happened to the keeper that there should be an idol of a miraculous god here. He gathered the villagers. Dug there. Digging very deep, the idol of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu came out. The idol was brought to the village from time to time. When this news spread in the Sangh by air, the Sanghs from village to village started flocking to see Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu. Discussions about building a new Jinalaya began to take place everywhere. With the teachings of Shri Vijayasensuriji Maharaj, the Pattadhar disciple of Jagadguru Shri Hirvijayasurishwarji of Tapagachchh, a magnificent, artistic Jinalaya with 52 Jinalayas was prepared in the middle of Shankheshwar village. Jinalaya construction work completed. A glorious prestige festival was held under the patronage of Shri Vijaysensurishwarji Maharaj.
This old Jinalaya, built under the patronage of Shri Vijaysensurishwarji, was on the west side. In other words, the face of the protagonist was facing west, this Jinalaya was a peak. The original was composed of three gabhara, a mysterious mandap sabhamandap and a bavan jinalaya. Despite being such a beautiful, artistic and magnificent Jinalaya, the Jinalaya did not live a full eighty years due to any natural calamity or the wrath of the Muslim emperors. The temple was not last till 80 years also.
5.From Vikram Samvat 1751 to 1764 was ruled by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb was the Dharmaznuni emperor. In any year of the above period, on the orders of Aurangzeb, the Suba of Ahmedabad sent an army to subdue Thakor Sardar Hamir Singh of Munjpur near Shankheshwarji. The subah army of Ahmedabad subdued Thakor of Munjpur and achieved victory. The idols that came in hand were shattered, but the Sangh there, using precaution, stored the statue of the protagonist Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath in a basement. So the statue remained intact.
For some years Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu's idol remained in a safe place in the basement. The idol was brought out when the fear and terror of the Muslim armies was removed. It is believed that for a few years, the rulers of Mujpur Keshankheshwar kept the idol of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu in their possession and collected a certain amount of money, only then allowed the pilgrims to visit.
This was reported to Shri Vijayprabhasuriji. Shri Vijayprabhasuriji Maharaj was the influence of Vijaydevsuriji Patt and Shri Vijaydevsuriji was the Pattadhar of Shri Vijayasensuriji.
Shri Vijayprabhasuriji came to Shankheshwar and preached to the Sangh there either due to the efforts of the Sangh leaders or due to the influence of the hymns given by Upadhyaya and the poet Shri Udayaratnaji, the idol of Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu seems to have been handed back to Shri Sangh.
Shri Vijayprabhasuriji Maharaj built a beautiful new Jinalaya. Around Vikram Samvat 1760, the prestige festival of this Jinalaya took place with the blessings of Shri Vijayaratnasuriji, Pattadhar of Shri Vijayprabhasuriji Maharaj.
Thus in the flow of time many ironies, difficulties, crises came, though the protagonist(Mudnayak) Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu's statue remained intact to the devotees.
At present the existing Jinalaya of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Prabhu is located from last two-three soukas. Sitting in the middle of a huge compound, this picturesque Jinalaya is full of Devakulikas. Outside the original terrace is a mysterious porch and two auditoriums. Shri Ajitnath and Shri Bhidbhanjan Parshvanath are seated as the protagonists in the summited gabhara on both sides of the original gabhara. There are 3 big delays in Bhamati with a big gap between the three sides. The entire Jinalaya has artistic carvings of marble.
On the fifth day of Maha Sud in Vikram Samvat 1967, the grand prestige festival of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Jinalaya was celebrated. Here every year flags are hoisted on big festivals like Karthiki Poonam, Chaitri Poonam, Posh Dasham or so, but on the fifth day of Maha Sud, flags are hoisted on all the Gabhara goddesses.At the same time, on the same day, 65 flags are hoisted along small temple(daries) and also on the summit of Mulnayakji.
Ancient inscriptions are also obtained from this Jinalaya. The oldest record is of Samvat 1214. And the new inscription is of Vikram Samvat 1916. There are 25 inscriptions in total. A fair is held every year at Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Tirth. The first Chaitri Poonam fills the second Karthiki Poonam and the third fair Magshar Vad Dasham. The fair of Chaitri Poonam is spectacular.
Today, the glory of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Tirtha is increasing day by day. Acharya-Bhagwanto has mentioned in the scriptures about the divine influence of the idol of Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath. Many great men have gone to the virtues of this pilgrimage.
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Michhami Dukkadam if written against Jinagna.
Author-Mokshit Shah
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