BENGALURU: The Adi Digambara Jain Temple, located in Chickpet, is easy to miss. Amidst the many wholesale ‘cutpiece’ shops in the locality – that identify as being ‘opposite Digambara Temple’ – stands the 140-year-old construction, the oldest Jain temple in Bengaluru.
The first settlement of Jains, migrating from Rajasthan to Bengaluru in the 1800s, was in Chickpet. “They liked the climate and the Kannadigas were welcoming,” says Prashant Singhi, who runs a Jain community newsletter. “Even language was not a problem because people here could speak Hindi, unlike those in Tamil Nadu.”
A gopura marks the entrance to the temple – a small room – built in accordance to the Hindu-Dravidian style of architecture. An ornate idol of Brahmadevan (Brahma in Hindu mythology) riding a horse is the centre piece, flanked by figures of Vishnu and lions that symbolise Mahaveera.
“Every tirthankara has a lanchan (symbol),” says B S Mahaveer, manager of the temple trust. There have been 24 tirthankaras, or teachers who show the path (tirtha) to moksha (salvation).
Jainism allows for the worship of Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Brahma, and Ganesha. “Jains are essentially merchants, so Lakshmi is worshipped for prosperity and Ganesha for the removal of obstacles,” says T G Doddamane, former president of the temple committee.
There are tiles of the goddesses inside and outside the walls of the porch attached to the sanctum.
Vishnu, though not a Jain deity, figures prominently in the gopura. “The two Vishnu figures were put there by Tamil artisans who were commissioned to build the gopura,” says Mahaveer. This was built under the guidance of Veerappa Chair in 1969 at the cost of Rs 18,067.
This temple for the Digambaras – the sky-clad deities – was built in 1878 by Jinnappa, who was then the head of the Jain community. “He may have been a businessman,” says Mohan Pandit, who has been the pujari at the temple for the last 20 years.
The road on which the temple is located is DK Lane, or Diwan Khana Lane. “Jinnappa was also called Diwan Khana,” says the pandit, because the leader was close to the king.
But Doddamane disagrees. “It could’ve been any of the diwans who gave the land to build the temple.” Most of the temple’s history, like most of city’s Jain history, is “said and told”, according to Singhi.
“There were only 20 or 25 Jain families in this locality then,” says Mahaveer, of the time when the Digambara temple was set up.
Today, the locality has at least three Jain temples of both Digambara and Shwetambara faiths. “Both believe in the same lord but ideologies and approaches are different,” says Singhi. “We don’t decorate our idols. Our priests don’t wear clothes or footwear and have food and water only once a day,” says Doddamane. There is also the practice of sallekhana, of inviting death, by forgoing food and water.
The central idol in the sanctum is of Mahaveera. It is made of panchaloha, an alloy of gold, silver, lead, copper and iron. He stands in Kayotsarga – erect with arms to the side – a yogic posture to contemplate the soul. (However, the 24th tirtankara is said to have attained salvation in the lotus position – seated with legs crossed and left palm in right.) This idol was donated by Mysore Motikane Veerappa, who was also close to the king. “The Motikane family still lives in Mysuru,” says Doddamane.
Idols of a yaksha and yakshi, those who serve and protect the lord, flank the deity. There are no women tirthankaras in Jainism, but there are yakshis or goddesses.
To the left of the central vigraha is another in black stone of Bahubali, four feet in height. Mohan Pandit believes it to be 250 years old though Doddamane says that it is 172 years old, found in 1843 in Gauribidanur.
“Brahmasuraiya of Chandapura donated it. The villagers discovered it while digging for something else,” says Doddamane. A many-hooded snake stands guard over the son of the first tirtankara Rishabhanatha.
To the right of Mahaveera’s idol is a set of yakshas and yakshis, among them is Saraswati, Padmavathi (the goddess of snakes) and Jwalamalini (the protector of the eighth tirthankara, Chandraprabha).
The Adi Digambara Temple is made of stone, with pillars and walls cut from pieces that were seven feet tall and four feet wide. They have now been painted over. The floor, laid with tiles that have geometric patterns, came much later. “Maybe in the last 60 years or so,” says Mahaveer.
Additions – like speakers, ceiling fans and bathroom mirror with a plastic frame – have been made over the years that grate against its historicity.
Two brass plates with a wooden hammer serve as bells. “They are Raja and Rani,” says Mohan Pandit. “The sound of the Raja,” he says, striking it with the hammer, “is louder and hoarser.” The second, the Rani, is shriller.
Outer walls of the sanctum have carvings of fish, elephants, snakes and tortoises. “These are what Mahaveera’s mother saw in her dreams when she conceived him,” says Mohan Pandit.
The figures seem suspended mid-air, the architect must have meant for the devotee to share her surreal visions. They have been painted over as well, flattening further the weathered carvings.
Aligned with the sanctum is a tiered, dome-shaped stone structure – the Sreebalipeeta. “Women are not allowed into the sanctum. They can take Mahaveera’s blessings from here,” says Mohan Pandit.
The temple is now woven into the commerce of its surroundings. An upper storey extends into the nearby shops from four sides with tremulous pipes and shared walls.
The committee that runs the temple, constituted in 1946, has rented out 12 shops built around the temple. “It generates around Rs 65,000 that helps us pay the staff, conduct poojas and maintain the building,” says Doddamane.
Raja and Rani:
The two bells used for the pooja are gendered. The louder one (to the left) is called Raja and the shriller one (right) is called Rani. “There is no particular reason why,” says Mohan Pandit, “except men sound hoarse and women have a softer voice.”