Jaina Basadi
Temple
BASADI'S
Apart from the archaeological wealth of the twin hills, the temples and pillars in the village of Shravanabelagola do also largely contribute to the glorious past of Jainism and add a golden leaf to those annals of superb glory. There are seven temples in the village of Shravanabelagola of architectural eminence and have rare equals elsewhere. They are the following:
1) Bhandari Basadi - Among the large Jain basadis, Bhandari basadi too is one. Its dimension is 266 ft. X 78 ft. As the idols of 24 Tirthankaras are installed in the main pavilion, so it is also called ‘Choubis Tirthankar Basti’. It consists of a courtyard,a spacious stage and a quadrangle with a large door. It was built by Hulla, Bhandari of Hoysala King Narasingha(1), so it got to be called after its builder as ‘Bhandari Basti’. There is a Manastambha just before it, made out of massive stone.
2) Akkan Basadi - This is an exceptionally bright specimen of Hoysala architecture and is dedicated to Lord Parshwanath seated under a seven headed cobra, protected by Dharanendra and Padmavathi on its right and to left of the entrance door. The temple was built in dark-blue schist, planned in the shape of a ‘star’, it possesses typical bell-shaped pillars, ornate ceilings and door-ways. It was built by Achiyakka, wife of a Brahmin Minister named Chandramouli. Thus the name of the temple acquired its origin after its builder, and Akka is an abbreviation of her name.
3) Siddhanta Basadi - Just in the same compound of Akkana basti, there is one small shrine called Siddhanta Basti. It is so called because during 9th and 10th century, all sacred books of Jains were kept preserved here. The famous scripts like Dhawal, Jaya Dhawal and Maha Dhawal belonged to this temple and found their way to Moodbidri later. There is a marble slab inscribed with 24 Tirthankaras around Lord Parshwanath in the middle.
4) Danashale Basadi - It is a temple to denote the place where various gifts by the past and present Maharajas towards the upkeep of the shrines and colossus were made. From one of the records it is found that late Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar, Maharaja of Mysore, donated a village namely Madnevu. It enshrines an image of Pancha Paramesthi about 3 ft. height.
5) Nagar Jinalaya – A straight, narrow road from Bhandara basti takes us to Nagara Jinalaya. This small, beautiful, temple was originally built in dark blue schist, but later crude renovations have robbed off nearly all of its original beauty. This is a small plain building which enshrines a standing figure of Adinath about 2.5 ft. height with glorious prabhavali. It was built in 1195 A.D. by Nagadeva, Minister of Hoysala King Ballala(2) but because it was supported by the merchants of the city, it got to be called ‘Nagar Jinalaya’. It was also called ‘Shrinilaya’
6) Mangayi Basti - It is a plain structure and have two elaborately decorated carved stone-elephants at the entrance. An image of Lord Shantinath, 4 ft. height is enshrined here. It was built by Mangayi, a crest-jewel of royal dancing girl of Vijayanagara Dynasty and a disciple of Bhattarak Charukirti in 1325 A.D. It was also known as ‘Tribhwan Chudamani’.
7) Jain Mutt - It is the residence of the Bhattaraka Charukirti Panditacharya and is a pretty structure with an open courtyard in the middle. An upper storey has been added to the building. The pillars of the porch are richly carved. The temple which is just in front of the door contains a number of marble and metallic idols of Jain Tirthankaras which are daily worshipped. On the walls of the Mutt, past lives of Lord Parshwanath are painted besides many other fine paintings.
8) Kalyani - It is a large lake in the centre of the village.