The Bade Baba Temple
The massive idol of Lord Bade Baba in padmasan is
carved of red sandstone. The essential components of the idol, the simhasan,
the chhatra, the two indras bearing chamar, two flying gandharvas bearing
flower garlands and the Lord Jina himself, each are carved out of separate
block of stone. On both sides of the idol are two massive Parshvanath idols in
kayotsargasana. Building this temple must have been a major engineering
accomplishment.
The Bade Baba idol does not have a lanchhan (mark)
that would identify him as a specific Tirthankara. There has been a common
convention that an unmarked idol is regarded to be of Lord Mahavira. The idol
was assumed to be that of lord Mahavira right after discovery, as the
inscription by Brahmachari Namisagar indicates. About three decades ago, Niraj
Jain observed that the carving right below the ears of the idol actually
represents locks of hair 14. The simhasana (seat) is flanked
by a yaksha and a yakshini on the two sides. The yaksha with a bull-like head
is easily identified as the Gomukha yaksha and the yakshini bearing a chakra is
clearly Chakreshwari. Both of them are associated with Lord Adinath and not
Lord Mahavira. Based on the locks of hair, Gomukha yaksha and goddess
Chakreshwari he concluded that the idol is obviously of Lord Adinath. It is now
accepted that idol is indeed that of the first Jina.
When the temple was discovered, significant parts of
the structure must have fallen, partially blocking the entrance. With
Maharaja Chhatrasal’s support it was
reconstructed with a tall shikhar and a raised enclosed courtyard (baradari) in
the front. A few years ago, the plaster of the main shikhar was temporarily
removed for restoration. That revealed the construction if the three storied
shikhara. It was made up of blocks of stone. The shikhar had a rectangular
shape, somewhat similar to the temples of Devgarh.
The courtyard of the temple is on a raised platform,
however the floor of the garbhagrah (main chamber) is approximately the same
level as the ground level of the compound. Thus one has to climb a few steps to
go up to the platform and then climb down a few steps to enter the garbhagrah.
It has been a mystery why the courtyard is built on such a high platform. The
answer to the mystery has been found recently. The temple is undergoing
significant reconstruction and in the process the sides of the platform have
been exposed. It appears that the platform consists of the rubble, presumably
from the original construction. We can thus conclude that during Chhatrasal’s
reconstruction, the large amount of rubble in the front was built into a
platform, and an enclosed compound was built on the top.