Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments

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Gopachal Parvat
Gopachal Rock-Cut Jain Monuments Gopachal Jain Colossi
Gopachal (4).jpg
Carving of a Tirthankar
Religion
Affiliation Jainism
District Gwalior
Deity Tirthankara
Location
Location Gwalior Fort
State Madhya Pradesh
Country India
Madhya Pradesh location map.svg
In-jain.svg
Shown within Madhya Pradesh
Geographic coordinates 26°12′55.1″N78°10′02.9″E / 26.215306°N 78.167472°E / 26.215306; 78.167472
Architecture
Style Jainism
Creator Tomars
Date established14th century (Kirti Singh Tomar)
Completed15th century (Dungar Singh Tomar)

The Gopachal Rock-Cut Jain Monuments, or Gopachal Jain Colossi, also called Gop Parvat Jaina Monuments, are a group of gigantic and large proportionate Jain rock-cut carvings dated to between the 14th and 15th centuries. They are located around the walls of the Gwalior Fort, Madhya Pradesh. They depict Tirthankaras in seated Padmasana posture as well as standing Kayotsarga posture, in the typical naked form of Jain iconography.

Contents

The number of Jain rock shrines at Gwalior, with numerous monumental statues, is unmatched anywhere else. James Burgess wrote: "In the 15th century, during the reign of the Tomar kings, the Jains seem to have been seized with an uncontrollable impulse to convert the cliff that sustains the fort into a great shrine in honour of their religion, and in a few years excavated the most extensive series of Jaina caves known to exist anywhere." [1]

The Gopachal Jain Collosi is one of the Archaeological Survey of India's Adarsh Smarak Monument along with other monuments in the Gwalior Fort. [2]

Location

Gwalior Fort plan 1901 showing locations of the five groups of monuments GwaliorFortplan1901.jpg
Gwalior Fort plan 1901 showing locations of the five groups of monuments

The Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments are located on the rock cliffs of the hill topped by the Gwalior Fort, Madhya Pradesh. Gopgiri or Gop Parvat is the old designation of the Gwalior Fort.

There are five clusters of monuments that surround the hill, as can be seen in the 1901 map. [3] [4]

Alexander Cunningham noted a Jain temple converted into a mosque just north of the Sas-Bahu temples in the fort containing a Jain inscription of AD 1108. [8] Also within the fort there is an abandoned Jain temple which is now within the Scindia School playground and thus no longer accessible. Several large Jain sculptures are placed within the Teli ka Mandir compound.

The Gwalior city and the fort is connected to other Indian cities by major highways NH 44 and 46 (Asian Highway 43 and 47), a railway station and airport (IATA: GWL). It is located near other historic Hindu and Jain temples from the medieval era. [9] [10] [11]

History

The cave temple housing 47 feet (14 m) idol of Parshvanatha Gopachal - Parshvanatha.jpg
The cave temple housing 47 feet (14 m) idol of Parshvanatha

The Gopachal rock-cut monuments are a part of nearly 100 Jain monuments found in and around the Gwalior city, but these are dated earlier than the Siddhachal Caves located about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of these monuments. Both monuments were defaced and desecrated around 1527 when the Emperor Babur ordered their destruction., [12] [13] Quote: "In 1527, the Urvahi Jinas were mutilated by the Mughal emperor Babar, a fact he records in his memoirs". [14] Centuries later, the Jain community restored many of the statues by adding back stucco heads on the top of the damaged idols. [12]

The prolific Apabhramsha author Raidhu was responsible for consecrating many of the Jain rock carved images as attested by multiple inscriptions. [15] These include the two colossal images of Shri Adinatha (57 feet) and Shri Chandraprabhu. [16]

Qutb ud-Din Aibak captured the fort from Pratihara in 1196 and held it until his death in 1210. Altmash captured the fort in 1232 and built the fortifications at the Urvahi gate. The Tomars acquired control in 1394 and held it until 1517.

Mughal Emperor Babur conquered Gwalior in AD 1527. Babar ordered the destruction of the Jain statues, as he mentions in his memoirs. The heads of the statues at Urvahi gate and the Ek Patthat ki Bawadi were damaged. The Urvahi gate sculptures were repaired at some later time by the local Jains. The South-West Group and North West group sculptures survived because they were in inconspicuous and hard to reach places and the Mughals kept control until Muhammad Shah. Scindias, took control in 1731. Shortly before that, Jain temples were constructed again in Gwalior city in 1704, including the Jain Golden Temple, Gwalior. [17]

Description

The Gopachal rock-cut monuments depict the Tirthankaras in seated or standing meditating positions. They are not as colossal as some of those found in the Siddhachal Caves, but they are big. The Gopachal monuments include standing and seated Shri Rishabhanatha (Adinatha), Neminatha, Parshvanatha and Shri Mahavirasvami. [12] [18] [9]

The mulnayak of the complex is a 47 feet (14 m) idol of Parshvanatha, the largest idol of Parshvanatha in lotus position. [19] According to Jains, Tirthankara Parshvanath delivered his discourse (deshna) on this hill.

Transport

The nearest airport is Gwalior.

See also

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References

Citations

  1. Burgess 2013, p. 509.
  2. "Adarsh Smarak Monument". Archaeological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  3. Ramjeet Jain, Gwalior Vaibhav Gopachal, 3rd edition, 2004.
  4. T. V. G Sastri, The Jain sanctuaries of the fortress of Gwalior, Kunda Kunda Jñānapīṭha, 1997
  5. एक ही चट्‌टान पर जैन समाज के 24 तीर्थंकर, Bhaskar News Network, Apr 17, 2019
  6. Cunningham 1871, p. 367.
  7. L. B. Singh, Puratattva, May 2005
  8. Cunningham 1871, p. 360.
  9. 1 2 Titze & Bruhn 1998, p. 106.
  10. Group of temples at Batesar, ASI Bhopal Circle (2014)
  11. Naresar Temples, ASI Bhopal Circle (2014)
  12. 1 2 3 Cunningham 1871, pp. 364–370.
  13. Titze & Bruhn 1998, pp. 101–102.
  14. Ring, Watson & Schellinger 2012, p. 314.
  15. Phyllis Granoff 2006, p. 31.
  16. Phyllis Granoff 2006, p. 32.
  17. देश का इकलौता जैन स्वर्ण मंदिर, इसकी दीवारों में जड़ा है करोड़ों का सोना, Dainik Bhaskar, Aug 31, 2015
  18. Gwalior Fort, Archaeological Survey of India, Bhopal Circle, India (2014)
  19. "Welcome to official website of District Administration Gwalior (M.P.) India". gwalior.nic.in. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.

Sources