Mumbai Mania

It was one of those days when I thought of accompanying my mom to the Jain temple in Byculla, moreover with the intention to revisit this old temple which I use to go to as a kid with my parents.

Situated in Motisha Lane (formerly called Love Lane) near Byculla police station, Motisha Jain Derasar (temple) is more like a temple complex and beautiful too. On full moon day (Poonam) several devotees throng the place to pay respect to the replica of Palitana, the pilgrim place for Jains in Gujarat where the first Jain apostle (tirthankara) Lord Adishwar or Rushabh Deva attained nirvana.

It is believed that Lord Adishwar's chief follower and several devotees attained nirvana on Palitana, so ideally people visit the pilgrim place on that day. Those who can't go, would visit a temple which has the replica of Palitana. (the image on right is the small replica of the holy site)

This temple has always been crowded, but surprisingly, that evening not many people were present. In the image below you can see the replica of Palitana, which has cluster of temples located on the Shatrunjaya hills, built by generations of Jains over a period of 900 years, from the 11th century onwards. It reminded me of the days when I use to climb 3800-odd stone steps to reach the top of the hill, admiring the scenic landscape and feeling at peace with the tranquil surroundings. Each Jain temple has a main idol and this one was dedicated to Lord Adishwar. Svetambara Jains, a sect in Jains, decorate the idol with silver or gold foils, ornaments of gold or silver, costume jewellery, beads, gold or silver leaf, pearls, precious stones and flowers. The decoration is pretty elaborate particularly during festivals and religious occasions. These offerings are renewed daily as a gesture of devotion, sometimes by the priest or the followers. These are images of other Jain tirthankars, adorned with colorful turbans. It was also the last day of the nine-day festival called Navpad Oli (that's why the decoration), where the devout Jains follow a special type of fast where they eat only once a day. The food contains only cereals and pulses, not sprouted, without any spices, salt, oil, butter, milk, sugar, ghee or curd. Devotees making offerings to the lord as part of their worship and some are chanting prayers.
Jain temples are generally considered to be beautiful, with their intricate carvings and fine marble work, depecting a story or events from the holy scriptures. This is the nicely designed dome of the temple. A better look at the interiors of the Motisha temple, this was when I was asked to stop taking pictures, probably because lot more people started to come in. These are the sculptures on the temple walls on the outside. Another look at the architecture and structure of the temple. A short walk from the main temple was another temple dedicated to Jain scholar and monk called 'Acharya', unfortunately I don't remember his name. But the temple was exquisitely decorated that it glittered. From there we went towards the last temple which had idols of deities and footprints of tirthankaras. Deities or Yaksas (male) and Yaksinis (female) are considered to be the guardian deities and believed to have supernatural powers, looked after the well-being of Tirthankaras. This reflected their presence in Jain temples as well around the idols of Tirthankaras.

The image below is of Padmavati devi, the dedicated deity of Lord Parshvanath, the 23rd tirthankar (in Jainism there are 24 tirthankaras). Her color is golden and her vehicle is the snake with a cock's head, which is visible in the picture below. She has four arms and her two right hands hold a lotus and a rosary. The two left hands hold a fruit and a rein. There is a story that Padmavati devi along with Yaksha Dharanendra protected Parshvanath from the evil force when he was in deep meditation. Only Padmavati devi is revered more by the Jains. That's why you will find Lord Parshvanath always represented with the hood of a snake shading his head and the Yaksha Dharanendra and the Yakshi Padmavati are often shown flanking him.

This is the idol of Nakoda Bhairav, tutelary deity of Bhairav. He is worshipped before the beginning of journeys to avoid obstacles and to protect from evil powers. Some people believe in that, while some don't. That was the end of my visit to the temple, we left at the right time, just when more people started pouring in.