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This is a majestic and vast temple of MULANAYAKA Shri Shankeshvar Parshvanath
Bhagavan in the heart of the Shankheshvara town. The idol is of white
complexion and about 1.82 metres inheight; it is in Padmasana posture,
it is miraculous. In the days of old, a Shravaka, Ashadhi by name had
got installed Jina idols in Charoopa, Stambhapura and Shankheshvara; so
say the references in Jaina works.
According to one story, in the battle between Jarasandha and Shri Krishna, when the former threw Jara on the army of the latter, the calamity was quietened by spraying the bathing water of the idol of Shri Prabhu on the army. The history of Shri Parshvanatha is therefore very old and highly impressive. We also get several stories of the miracles associated with this idol. In the central part of the vast fort, a lovely temple with peaks is found with its 52 Jinalayas. The Minister-in-Chief of King Siddharaj Jaisinha, Sajjanshah got this tirtha repaired and renovated in V.S. 1155. Round about V.S. 1286, Vastupal-Tejpal installed gold-pinnacles on the Shrines of the 52 Jinalayas and carried out the necessary repairs. In the 14th century when the soldiers of Allauddin broke this tirtha, the Shri Sangha kept the idol of Shri Shankheshvara Prabhu well protected. In V.S. 1656 emperor Shahjehan issued an ordinance regarding the town, in the name of Sheriff Shantidasa. Thereafter in V.S. 1628 and 1760 renovations took place again. Remnants of the old temple are seen to-day on way to the temple. The new temple was built in the 17th century. Even to-day its impressiveness as the destroyer of the threefold miseries is well-known. |