Jivaraj Papriwal
Encyclopedia
Jivaraja Paprival was the legendary installer of as many as 100,000 Jain images in 15th century, now found in Jain temples all over India
. He was a trader in the Rajasthan
i town of Mudasa in 15th century.
India was overrun during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Turkish invaders. The two centuries following were a period of great devastation in North India. Temples were demolished, idols were defaced, and very few new images could be installed so as to replace the demolished ones. These temple images had marked the tradition and identity of the Jain congregations, but very few were left.
Paprival resolved that regardless the circumstances, the financial cost, and the fierce political climate he would find a way to install as many images of Lord Jina as may be needed by Jain communities residing in towns and villages situated anywhere in all India. He commissioned large teams of workers to cut slabs of marble from several quarries and employed armies of craftsmen to carve the images. So many idols were created that stories abound on how fast the inscribers had to work to carve the traditional dedicatory inscription into the base of each murti.
On an auspicious day in 1491, Bhattaraka
Jinachandra Deva of Mula Sangh
supervised a grand pratishtha or consecration of all the images, the magnitude of which had never been seen before and will likely never be reached again. To count the actual number of those idols today would be a mind-boggling task. Some estimates place it around 100,000.
Jivaraja, with an enormous train of carts, then embarked on a pilgrimage to nearly all the Jain Tirtha
s of India. Braving the possibility of hostile confrontations with the iconoclastic invaders, wherever shravakas along the way lacked an idol he simply had one or more images installed. In our own times, in Punjab
, Haryana
, Bengal
, Bihar
, Bundelkhand
, Rajasthan
, Gujarat, Maharashtra
and Karnataka
, we can visit the images installed by Jivaraja in temples of both the Digambar and Shvetambar sects. Each statue is one to two feet high, composed mostly of white marble but with a few blue, black and green hues, and inscribed with a text mentioning Jivaraja Papdival.
Today, in thousands of Jain communities all over India, the shravakas once again possess beautiful and intact symbols of the faith thanks to Jivaraja’s audacity and vision. Since then, the Indian state of Rajasthan has been the major carving center for Jain idols.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was a trader in the Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
i town of Mudasa in 15th century.
India was overrun during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Turkish invaders. The two centuries following were a period of great devastation in North India. Temples were demolished, idols were defaced, and very few new images could be installed so as to replace the demolished ones. These temple images had marked the tradition and identity of the Jain congregations, but very few were left.
Paprival resolved that regardless the circumstances, the financial cost, and the fierce political climate he would find a way to install as many images of Lord Jina as may be needed by Jain communities residing in towns and villages situated anywhere in all India. He commissioned large teams of workers to cut slabs of marble from several quarries and employed armies of craftsmen to carve the images. So many idols were created that stories abound on how fast the inscribers had to work to carve the traditional dedicatory inscription into the base of each murti.
On an auspicious day in 1491, Bhattaraka
Bhattaraka
A Bhaṭṭāraka is the head of traditional Jain institutions. They are responsible for training of scholars, maintenance of libraries, managing the endowments, presiding over the installation ceremonies and running of Jain institutions....
Jinachandra Deva of Mula Sangh
Mula Sangh
Mula Sangh is an ancient Jain monastic order . Mula literally means the "root" or the original order.Mula-Sangh has been the main Digambar Jain order. Today the Digambar Jain tradition is synonymous with Mula Sangha. The great Acharya Kundakunda is associated with Mula Sangh...
supervised a grand pratishtha or consecration of all the images, the magnitude of which had never been seen before and will likely never be reached again. To count the actual number of those idols today would be a mind-boggling task. Some estimates place it around 100,000.
Jivaraja, with an enormous train of carts, then embarked on a pilgrimage to nearly all the Jain Tirtha
Tirtha
In Jainism, a tīrtha |ford]], a shallow part of a body of water that may be easily crossed") is used to refer both to pilgrimage sites as well as to the four sections of the sangha...
s of India. Braving the possibility of hostile confrontations with the iconoclastic invaders, wherever shravakas along the way lacked an idol he simply had one or more images installed. In our own times, in Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
, Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
, Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom is a geographic region of central India...
, Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, Gujarat, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
and Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, we can visit the images installed by Jivaraja in temples of both the Digambar and Shvetambar sects. Each statue is one to two feet high, composed mostly of white marble but with a few blue, black and green hues, and inscribed with a text mentioning Jivaraja Papdival.
Today, in thousands of Jain communities all over India, the shravakas once again possess beautiful and intact symbols of the faith thanks to Jivaraja’s audacity and vision. Since then, the Indian state of Rajasthan has been the major carving center for Jain idols.