Yashwant. K. Malaiya
Fort Collins Colorado, USA
Kundalpur is a famous tirtha in Damoh district in
Madhya Pradesh. It is about 20 miles North East of Damoh. In the past several
decades it has become a very popular tirtha that attracts pilgrims from all
over India. This article traces the history of its emergence as a major tirtha
during the past 300 years.
The nuclear temple in Kundalpur contains a very
large and impressive idol about 12 feet tall, which is affectionately termed Bade
Baba. There are many legends about
the Bade Baba idol and several miracles are attributed to it. The compound of
the main temple is enclosed within tall walls like a fortress. There are
several other temples within this compound. There are numerous other temples on
the same hill, which is covered by a forest of teak trees. The name “Kundalpur”
is said to be derived from the shape of the semicircular hill. There are many
temples also at the bottom of the hill besides a beautiful lake named Vardhmana
Sagar. Kundalpur has a very picturesque and peaceful setting.
There is small cell-like shrine near the lake, which
may have been constructed in the Gupta period. It is now under the care of the
Archaeological Survey of India. With the exception of his shrine, the Bade Baba
temple is the oldest temple in the tirtha. The idol of Bade Baba has been
estimated to be from 6th century AD by some scholars.
Legends
The history of the main temple is shrouded in
mystery. Nothing is known about the name of its builder or the exact time it
was built. There are several legends about the rediscovery of the idol. One
fascinating legend is that the idol was discovered by a trader from Patera
(nearby village about 2 miles from Kundalpur). He was divinely instructed to
load the idol on a bullock-cart so that he can take it to Patera, but along the
way he should not look back at the idol. However while passing over a hill, the
trader could not control himself and turned back to take a glance. The idol
then refused to budge and hence since has stayed on the hill.
A legend of historical significance is recorded in
the Shri Bharatvarshiya Digambar Jain Directory published in 1914 AD 1.
The work on the directory was initiated in 1907. This account represents the
earliest of the modern publications about the Kundalpur tirtha. The account
mentions that a Bhattaraka named Mahendrakirtiji was visiting Hindoria (about
11 miles from Kundalpur). He wanted to visit the ruins of Viratanagar nearby.
He lost his way and found himself in Patera.
The Bhattarakaji had taken a vrata that he would not eat until he
had had a darshan of a Jina idol. At that time there was no temple in
Patera. He has to fast for two days. The third night he saw in a dream that in
a cave on a mount, there is an immense idol. The next morning he asked the
shravakas in the villager, but they know nothing about such an idol. Luckily an
old Adivasi, who used to wander around in the forests, remembered having seen
this place and took the Bhattarakji there. The Bhattarakji was delighted. He
has the forest growth and the rubble cleared and entered the temple, which had
become like a wild cave. Thus the ancient temple ws brought to light again.
Sometime shortly after the discovery, the Bundela
king Chhatrasal, who was hiding out in the forests from the Mughal army,
visited the temple. He was impressed by the temple and the discourses of the
Bhattarakaji. Later eventually he established his capital at Panna. He then had
the temple restored and he donated chhatra, chamar and other implements to the
temple. Maharaja Chhatrasal had an
annual fair started at Kundalpur. Thus Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti and Maharaja
Chhatrasal are jointly credited with restoring fame to Kundalpur.
Historical Evidence
This account in the BDJ Directory is supported by
significant historical evidence. In the main temple there is no inscription on
the pedestal of the idol of Bade Baba. However on the left side of the door
there is an inscription which has 10 verses followed by some prose. An translation
is given here.
Om Namah Siddhebhyah.
Year of Samvat 1757, magh sudi 15, on Monday.
1-2: In year 1757 of Vikrama, Magh sudi 15 Monday,
during Magha Nakshatra, the temple of Lord Vardhaman, the teacher of the world,
was completed.
3-4: In Mulasangh- Balatkaragan,-Sarasvatigachcha,
in the anvaya of Kunadakunda, lord of the monks, there was great monk
Yashakirti, wise, ocean of virtues, who was worshipped by the entire sangha.
5. His successor was Lalitakirti, wise, learned in
the Jain scriptures, having retired from world, wearing the garb of the Jina,
whose feet were worshipped by the Indras.
6. His successor was Dharmakirti, the author of
Ramadevapurana, steadfast in Jain Dharma, embodiment of knowledge, who gave
valuable discourses.
7. His successor was Padmakirti, brilliant like the
sun, deep like the ocean, who had conquered his senses, who was like a bridge
to cross the worldly ocean.
8. His successor was Surendrakriti, who was
virtuous, who had traversed the forest of words, (i.e. literature) who was a
great tapasvi with kindness in his heart.
9-10. His
pupil --- (the name is not clearly read) had the auspicious temple of
Lord Mahavira restored using funds raised from shravakas, as asked by his guru
Surendrakirti on seeing the ruined but beautiful shrine; so that the Dharma
will be renewed and will grow.
Prose part 1: When Dharmasagar, having finished his
life in Mandirtila (?) village, went to heaven and some of the vedis in the
shrine were not yet finished; then his pupil, the learned Brahmachari Namisagar
had the vedis etc finished and had this dated inscription installed.
Prose part 2: The shrine has been built during the
rule of Chhatrasal, the ruler of rulers, the descendant of the Gaharvar kings
of Kashi, glorious like the sun, conqueror of great rulers, with strong arms
and who can discuss the scriptures of the six philosophies. May it be auspicious.
The first line of verse 10 has not been clearly
read. The reading in the BDJ Directory 1 is “(shu)chi
brahma …ra” where as in other readings 2 it is “suchandra
…”. We thus do not know the exact
name of the person who initiated the work, except that he was a pupil of
Bhattaraka Surendrakirti. It is possible that the inscription was
“Brahma-Dharmasagar”. “Brahma” was a popular short form of brahmachari. It was
a common term for scholars who were pupils of bhattarakas.
The valuable gifts of Chhatrasal including chhatra
and chamar made of gold and silver were plundered during the disturbances of
the Ghadar of 1857AD. Some of the brass
utensils including a massive ghanta (gong) bearing his name were still present
in the storage some time ago 1.
The Bhattarakas mentioned in the inscription belong
to the Chanderi Patta of Balatkaragana-Sarasvati Gachchha 3,4.
The seat at Chanderi (Dist. Guna) was established by Devendrakirti in Samvat
1473. At that time Chanderi already had been a major Jain center for many
centuries. Around this time the local
administration of Chanderi had come in the hands of a Khandelwal Jain family
from Rajasthan. This family continued to have
the hereditary chaudhari title right until the end of the Maratha
(Scindhia) rule. The bhattarakas of
Chanderi generally came from the Parvar community who are numerous around
Chanderi 5. The
Chanderi seat has been referred to as the Jerahat seat by Dr. Joharapurkar 6.
The lineage of the bhattarakas of the Chanderi seat
is given below. Note that Devendrakirti was one of the several pupils of
Bhattaraka Padmanandi of Delhi Patta.
Devendrakirti (Chanderi
Mandalacharya)
Tribhuvanakirti
Sahasrakirti/Ratnakirti
Padmanandi
Gunakirti
Yashakirti (Jasakirti)
Lalitakirti
Dharmakirti
Padmakirti
Sakalakirti
Surendrakirti
Bhattarak Surendrakirti was tenth in line from
Devendrakirti. He had presided over sevaral pratishthas. Several available contemporary inscriptions of sam.
1744 and 1746 mention him. Pandit Phoolchandra Siddhantashastri has written
that Surendrakirti may have been the last bhattaraka of Chanderi 7.
However he points out that the Bhattaraka seat at Sironj, a branch of the
Chanderi seat continued for another century 8.
Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti of
Kundalpur & Hirdaynagar
Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti mentioned in the BDJ
Directory account is a historic person. Several idols in the region mention him
as the presiding Bhattaraka. He is specially associated with the Pateriaji
Tirth temple 9 where idols installed by him in sam. 1839 and
1844 are present. The temple at Pateriaji is also thought to have been his
residence, at least for some time. There was a gaddi (seat) in a room of the
temple signifying official residence of the Bhattaraka. According to the
legends, some miraculous events at Pateriaji are associated with him. During
the pratishtha of sam. 1939, a kunda (well) was dug according to his
instructions. The water of that kund had miraculously turned into ghee. A
column near Pateriaji temple is said to have been blessed by Mahendrakirti. It
is believed that embracing the column cures fevers.
In Chhatarpur, three brass idols of sam 1835, a
Parshvanath idol in the crown of goddess Padmavati, a meru with 16 Jinas and a
manastambha, mention installation by
Mahendrakirti 10.
It is clear that Bhattaraka Surendrakirti was the
reigning Bhattaraka when the temple at Kundalpur was rediscovered and rebuilt.
Thus Mahendrakirti cannot be the Bhattaraka who discovered the temple. It may have been Bhatttaraka Surendrakirti
himself who had discovered the Kundalpur temple, or it may have been one his
pupils, perhaps Brahma Dharmasagar.
The Kundalpur region was once in the domain of the
Kalachuri kings. Jainism was quite popular during the long Kalachuri rule, many
Jain idols from the Kalachuri period have been found. However after the
Kalchuri rule, very few Jains stayed in the region. Jain temples were abandoned
and forgotten. After the Kalchuris, the power passed to the Gond kings. The
Bundela king Chhatrasal wrested this region from the Gonds. Before his death in
sam. 1787, he bequeathed a two-thirds of his lands to his two sons and and one
third to the Peshwa (leader of the Maratha confederacy). As a result around
sam. 1787 the region came under Maratha rule. Many of the administrators who
came with the Maratha forces were from the Jain communities of the Bundelkhand
region. Enforcement of a single administration over a wide geographic area
encouraged many Jains to emigrate to Damoh-Jabalpur region.
The shift in trading activity may have caused
decline of Chanderi as a commercial center, which may have caused the decline
of the prestige of the Chanderi seat. In any case, increasing numbers of Jains
settling in Damoh-Jabalpur region caused rekindling of religious activity in
the region.
While Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti may not have been the
person to discover or rebuild the Kundalpur temple, it does seem that he was
responsible for transforming Kundalpur into a major tirtha. He probably spent
prolonged periods in both Garhakota (formerly called Hirdaynagar named after
Bundela ruler Hirdeshah, son of Maharaja Chhatrasal). The BDJ Directory gives a
complete list of temples at Kundalpur with the names and towns of the builders.
It mentions that some of the builders at Kundalpur lived in Hirdaynagar. Thus it appears that both Kundalpur and
Hirdaynagar were both in the domain of Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti. In Kundalpur,
traditionally the first temple on the hill visited is called the Chhaigaria
temple. It was built by Maniram Chhaigaria of Hirdaynagar. Pt. Mohanlal
Kavyatirth 11 estimated that it might have been built about
250 years ago. It contains two charana-padukas in addition to 9 idols 1.
Maniram Chhaigaria also built another shrine containing another charan-paduka.
It is believed that the charan-padukas represent the bhattarakas who
administered over the Kundalpur region. It is likely that one of them belongs
to Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti.
None of inscriptions mentioning Mahendrakirti give
the name of his predecessor, with the exception of a vijay-meru at Kundalpur dated sam 1842 1. It
mentions bhattarakas Mahendrakirti and Surendrakirti. It appears that
Mahendrakirti was successor of a Bhattaraka named Surendrakirti. There are two
inscriptions mentioning a Bhattaraka Surendrakirti of sam. 1833, one in
Chanderi, the other in Kundalpur 8. Both are identical metal
idols of Lord Chandraprabh. It is unlikely this Surendrakirti was the same
Surendrakirti mentioned in Br. Namisagar inscription of sam. 1757, because that
would make his duration from sam. 1744-1833, an unusually long duration. It
seems that the Surendrakirti of sam. 1833 was actually Surendrakirti of
Chittor-Amer-Jaipur seat 12. Manju Chaudhari, a Parwar
shravak born in Bundelkhand, had risen
to become representative of the Maratha Bhonsle court of Nagpur in
Orissa in sam. 1807 13. In sam. 1836 he had invited a
Bhattaraka Surendrakirti to Katak where he had composed Jyeshta-Jinavar-Puja-Vrata-Katha.
This Surendrakirti is considered by Dr. Jyotiprasad Jain to be a Bhattaraka of
Chittor-Amer-Jaipur seat.. It is possible that Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti was a
pupil of this Surendrakirti, who had arrived with his guru but had stayed in
Garhakota-Kundalpur area to fill the vacuum created by the decline of the
Chanderi bhattarakas. Nothing is known about any successors to Bhattaraka
Mahendrakirti. Further research is needed to identify the predecessor and the
successors of Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti with certainty.
It should be noted that another Mahendrakirti
belonged to the Chittor-Amer-Jaipur line of Balatkargana-Sarasvatigachchha was
inaugurated Bhattaraka at Delhi in sam. 1792. He was succeeded by
Kshemendrakirti in 1815. This Mahendrakirti cannot be thus the Mahendrakirti of
Kundalpur and two Bhattarakas are distinct.
Bhagbali Pande of Chhatarpur
Four very early shrines of the post-reconstruction
period at Kundalpur were built by legendary Bhagbali Pande of Chhatarpur 11.
Three of the temples contain undated idols of local sandstone, and one of them
contains an idol installed by Jivaraj Papdival. One of his temples is on the
west side of the lake near the Jal-Mandir. No detailed information about
Bhagbali Pande is available. While I have not come across an inscription
mentioning him, some old manuscripts still preserved in Chhatarpur mentioned
that they were written for him. According to the tradition he was an
accomplished scholar and author. His title Pande (Sanskrit Pandit) reflects his
scholarly background.
Several miracles are mentioned about him 10.
It is said that he could make his palki move without any kahars (palanquin
bearers). One time during a drought he had caused rain to happen using the
power of his mantras. Kamal Kumar Jain 10 mentions that a
memorial platform in Chhatarpur named after Chhatrasal; built by Chhatrasal
himself was founded during the time of Bhagbali Pande. He is also said to have
been respected by Chhatrasal’s court.
Bhagbali Pande and an associate named Balkishun lived in Chhatarpur on
Dera Pahari, where five temples built by him still stand. The traditional
accounts of Bhagbali Pande would suggest that he was somewhat like a
bhattaraka, however no information has been found that would associate him with
a known bhattaraka seat.
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.
Recent Developments
Because of numerous miracles reported at Kundalpur,
it was regarded to be an Atishaya Kshetra. A few decades ago it has been
identified as a Siddhakshetra also 2. Tiloyapannati mentions
Kundalgiri as the nirvana site of Kevali Shridhar Swami:
kundala girimmi charimo kevalananeesu siridharo
siddho ||1479||
There has
been a small charan-chinha (footprints) installed in front of the main temple
under an old chhatri, but no attention had been paid to it. In 1967 AD, Pandit
Jaganmohanlal Shastri and others carefully examined the charana-chinha and
found the inscription “kundalagirau shri shridhara svamy” on it. After
this discovery, Kundalpur came to be
regard as a Siddhakshetra.
Several gajarath pratishthas with festivals have
been held at Kundalpur. There are many idols that were installed in years sam.
1861, 1888, 1889, 1935, 1948 and 1958. These are likely to have been installed
locally at Kundalpur. There are about twenty idols at Kundalpur installed by
Jivaraj Papdival in year 1548. There were installed under supervision of
Bhattaraka Jinachandra at Mudasa. From Mudasa they had been taken all over
India and are now found in thousands of temples. Jinachandra’s predecessor
Shubhachandra was a guru-bhai of Bhattaraka Devendrakirti of Chanderi, both
being pupils of Bhattaraka Padmanandi 15. In the past, idols
and property of several temples in the region had been transferred to Kundalpur
including one from Raneh (sam. 1995), one from Salaiya and two from Hatta 11.
For a long
duration the tirtha was administered by the shravakas of nearby town
Patera, led by Badkur Ramlalji. In the twentieth century, better transportation
allowed the shravakas of Damoh to get involved. A committee has since then
administered the tirtha. Seth Vrindavan Nathuram of Damoh was successful in
restarting the annual fair in sam. 1957, after the government-imposed ban since
sam. 1928 1. Late Seth Lalchand Jain and Rajaram Bajaj of
Damoh were prominent leaders in the early part of the 20th century 8.
The tirtha-kshetra once owned several villages, however in 1959AD the zamindari
system was abolished. Still the tirtha has continued to prosper. Because of the
tranquility of the tirtha, it has been a favorite retreat of scholars like
Brahmachari Gokulprasadji and Pandit Jagannmohanlalji. Acharya Vidyasagarji along with a part of his
large sangha, has spent several chatrumas periods at Kundalpur,
attracting large number of pilgrims. New dharmashalas and a new lecture hall
have been constructed and some projects are in progress.
References