Travel Jaipur: Historic Jain temple in Amber

Sri Chandaprabhu Jain temple in Amber is one of he oldest temple in Jaipur, the Pink city. Chandaprabhu is the eighth Jain Tirthankar. The temple is situated near Amber fort, tourist attraction of the pink city. It is worth noting that Amber (10 KMs from Jaipur) was the old capital of Kachhawa dynasty.

Establishment day of the Amber temple is not known. However, Jain monk Shiva Chandra Gani was instrumental to "Jirnoddhar" (major repairing and maintenance) of this temple some two hundred years back. An inscription in stone depicts the same.

The Chandaprabhu temple has a huge court yard surrounded by Veranda where worshipers can sit and offer prayer.This Swetambar Jain temple includes three Tirthankar idols being he Principle deity Chanda Prabhu. The Swetambar Jain temple is about four hundred years old. There are idols of Shashan Deva and Shashan Devi inside the temple. A Bhairav ji is installed out side the temple.

The temple is beautifully decorated with wall paintings many of these are gold paintings representing Mogul- Rajput school.

Map of Chandaprabhu Jain temple, Amber

There is a Jin Kushal Suri Dadabadi situated opposite to Sri Chandaprabhu Shwetambar Jain temple. Sri Nathmal Chandalia, eminent personality of Jaipur and a Jain devotee sponsored rebuilding this Dadabadi. Foot prints of Dada Jin Kushal Suri is established inside the Dadabadi. Jin Kushal Suri was a famous Shwetambar Jain Acharya of 13th century. He belonged to Khartar Gachchh sect.

Dada means " Grand father" in Hindi language and Jin Kushal Suri is nicknamed as "Dada" because of his popularity among Jain. " Badi" means garden. Hence, Dadabadi is a place of worship with garden.

Amber Dadabadi has a huge compound with Dharamshala, garden and a marriage lawn.

Both the temple and Dadabadi is managed by Sri Jain Shwetambar Khartar Gachchh Sangh, Jaipur.

Nandishwar Dweep (island) is famous in Jain geography. It is said that the gods go to Nandishwar Dweep for worshiping. It is also said that the island is eternal, beautiful and consists of 52 temples of Tirthankara.

There is an wooden structure of Nandishwar Dweep in Amber temple.Temple authorities used to bring out the structure every year on the day of establishment of Amber temple. Nandishwar Dweep Pujan is carried out every year on the same day (Ashwin Shukla Tritiya, the third day of Navratri).

Nandishwar Dweep Pujan was written by Shiva Chandra Gani on the above mentioned day in the Amber temple itself about two centuries back.

Large numbers of Swetambar Jain assembled at Chandaprabhu temple in Amber on that day to celebrate the occasion.The day will fall on October 10 this year, 2010.The Swetambar Jain community of Jaipur is preparing to celebrate the day and worship. The annual function includes a lunch for everyone attending the Puja and celebration.

Update: I have put this article on the web more than a year back. Sri Jain Swetambar Khartar Gachchh Sangh, Jaipur, managing the temple will celebrate Amber fair again on October 30 this year, 2011.