In the 15th resurrection done in VS 1371 by Samarashah Oswal, the idol of Lord Rishabhdev was placed here by Acharya Ratnakar Suriji. Moghuls wrath destroyed it and so, the remaining face of the idol was worshiped. The Barbarian Moghul conquerors never permitted the restoration of the idol. Instead 100 gold coins were taken as pilgrim tax. Yet people payed it and did ‘Darshan’.
The whole Jain Community kept various vows to win grace from muslim conquerors. Everyone was grieving. Tolasha of Chittor in Rajasthan belonging to Oswal Jain Community was very much grieved. His heart cried for the misery that fell upon the whole Jainism. He had five devoted sons Ratnasha, Pomasha, Dashrathsha, Bhojasha and Karmasha. One day Tapagaccha Acharya Dharma Ratna Suri visited Chittor. This was in VS 1582. Tolasha along with his youngest son Karmasha met him and bowed. Tolasha gruelingly wanted his answer, Will my hearty desire be fulfilled ? Acharya Maharaj was a great person. He read the thoughts and replied.
‘‘O Tolasha ! Never mind, the night will soon pass away. Not you, but your son will fulfill your wish of resurrecting the Great Palitana. And in the same way, not me but my pupil, will help it carried out.’’
Tolasha was full of joy. After some years, under the auspicious gaze and guidance of Upadhyaya Vinay Mandan and the inspiration of Kuldevi, the goddess of Karmasha’s whole family, Karmasha did the impossible task of the 15th great resurrection in the Mogul Kingdom. The white marble slab of Mamani kept by Vastupal-Tejpal was dug out of its hidden place and used to make the idol of Lord Adinath, the huge foot prints and Pundrik Swami. The guidance of Upadhyaya Vivek Mandan and Muni Vivekdhir was the heart. Both were farfamed for their mastery over traditional secrets of Vastu – Shilpa Shastra. To get the risky work over, two saints Ratna Sagar and Jaymandan gani did fastings for 6 months. In VS 1587, under the umbrellic gaze of Acharya Vidyamandan suri etc. 500 Acharyas and countless saints and nuns and thousands of sravak-sravikas, Lord Adinath was enthroned by Seth Karmasha with great pomp and show. People danced with extreme joy. A miracle happened to show Lord Adinath throbbing with life. Lord Adinath took breath 7 times as a living man.
Even today, we can see Lord Adinath is so lively attracting lacs of people from all over the world. Karmasha paid enough gold to Suba and due to his request, the Suba stopped taking 100 gold coins. The battle was won by wit without any blood shed.
See, the miraculous Lord Adinath is showering peace upon us with his peaceful gaze.
Lastly let us beg from Lord Adinath something special.
O, My Lord Adinath ! My heart and my life ! Give me ‘Darshan’ as of Marudevi Mother ! Abandoning spirit as of Shalibhadra and Dhanna ! Dedication and consentration as of Nagketu ! Guru Bhakti as of Guru Gautam swami and Panthakji ! Austerities as of Dhanna Angar and Dhandan. Let my veins throb with Navkar. My heart be filled with purity. Let my head be filled with right knowledge, my heart be filled with right vision and my hands be filled with right conduct !
O Lord ! My mental meditation of Shatrunjay being over, let me pray that, let it become my daily routine. So that, I can do the destruction of bad karmas daily !’’ Praying and begging this, we come out of the temple without showing our back and here we come down fast. Ratan Pol, HathiPol, Sagal Pol and RamPol. Now descending steep steps, automatically we are moving faster. Yet we are gazing at ground to see that no living being small as ant is injured or trampled under our moving feet. Here we are at the foot hill. Again touching the Taleti with our fingertips and begging forgiveness for any misconduct, we reach our village and resort !
Thank you for sharing this wonderful explanation of Lord Adinäth.
Anumodana
Sadar Jai Jinendra,
Rishabhanatha spent a thousand years performing austerities and then attained Kevala Jnana (omniscience) on the eleventh day of Falgun Krishna (Hindu calendar) under a banyan tree.[40] According to Jain texts, Devas (heavenly beings) created a divine preaching hall known as samavasarana. This is the fourth of Panch Kalyanaka and is known as Kevala Jnāna Kalyanaka. According to Jain texts, the following is the number of followers of Tirthankara Rishabhanatha
Sadar Jai Jinendra,
Moksha
Kailash Parvat Rachna, Hastinapur
Rishabhanatha is said to have preached Jainism far and wide. He attained Moksha (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths) at Ashtapada (famously known as Mount Kailash)[44] on the fourteenth day of Magha Krishna (Hindu Calendar) at the age of 84 lakh purva (592.704 x 1018 years). His preachings were recorded in fourteen scriptures known as Purvas.
Sadar Jai Jinendra,
The Palitana temples of Jainism are located on Shatrunjaya hill by the city of Palitana in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India.
This site on Shatrunjaya hill is considered sacred by Jains and have hundreds of temples.There are approximately 863 marble-carved temples on the hills.The main temple is reached by stepping up 3500 steps.