Jains raise Rs 60 crore to renovate temple

The Jain community raised more than Rs 60 crore in an auction for the renovation of the 2,800-year-old temple in Dantrai village of Sirohi district in Rajasthan, media reports said on Wednesday. The money was raised through bids made for the right to conduct various rituals at the six-day celebration that would be part of the temple’s restoration process.

The reports said that preparations for the event started over a year ago, when a chariot started out from Dantrai and travelled over 15,000 km across the country in a bid to invite people for the celebration. Around 1,500 monks travelled on foot to the temple for the pratishtha celebrations, which ended on February 2 with the idol of Parshvanath, the 23rd Jain tirthankar, being placed on its throne after 700 years. The temple was rebuilt in 13 years using the famed white Makrana marble, the reports added.

About Rs 6 crore was reportedly spent on the preparations, including on modelling the temple and sprucing up the villages adjoining Varanasi, Parshvanath’s birth place

According to the report, 11 massive entry gates were built to welcome devotees, durbars were set up, a feast fit for kings was served on large thalis, and flowers were showered on the devotees during the grand finale.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for many Jains. Placing the lord back on his original throne was like a double celebration. It has led a lot of happiness in the community,” Acharya Gunaratnasurji Maharajsaheb, a Jain monk who oversaw the preparations, reportedly said.

Ramanlal Jain, a temple trustee, was quoted in the report as saying that the bids were close to Rs 35-40 crore. “All the transactions were made through RTGS. Who has that kind of cash any more post demonetization?” he asked.