Ranakpur and the Jain Temples

Leaving Jodhpur we passed the "slums", a virtual tent city.  It appears that some of the locals make and sell the traditional  water jugs that are used in homes and even public places.  People dip a metal cup into the jug that is cooled by evaporation and manage to pour the water into their mouths without letting the cup touch their lips.  We are sticking to the bottled water.

The reason for our stop in Ranakpur is to see the Jain Temple there. But after walking into the oasis-like courtyard of our hotel and seeing the pool we were in heaven. Or at least we thought it was aptly named "The King's Abode". Right out back were small farms.

Jainism was started in 6th century BC.  It is based on teachings of 24 "tirthankanas" or enlightened ones. Unlike Hindus, they don't believe in reincarnation - you only have this life to get it right.  non-violent vegan (and they don't eat root vegetables) , no alcohol or smoking.  priests wear white and wear face masks so they won't cill any bugs by inhalation. Jains only comprise 1 or 2 percent of the Indian population.  When the temples were built in the 15th century they were funded by rich merchants, traders and finance ministers who were members of the faith 

This temple is to the first "saint" Adinath who was born 2612 years ago  Visitors must take off shoes, and leave anything leather and their water bottles outside. Beginning in 1437 and completed in 1458, it was designed by a man who was illiterate and took thousands of workmen and skilled stone carvers.  It makes one think of the comparisons to Chartres and other gothic cathedrals. Except for some sandstone arches of which all but 3 were destroyed) the temple remains completely intact.

Like Taj Mahal  this is built on 4-sided symmetry with 5 incredible large domes  and many smaller domes radiating out.  While the exquisite getail there was in the inlay work, here it is in the carvings.

Among the many breathtaking carvings in the temple are:

the Kalpavelli medallions, hundreds of stylized carvings of the symbol for "om"

The image of the 23 tirthankanas being provected by a cobra with hundreds of heads.  The tail makes a maze-like pattern around the outside. 

There are 1444 columns, each unique and amazing. One is tilted intentionally (center of picture) based on the precept that only God is perfect, things created by man are not.

Many beautiful doors in front of the hundreds of individual shrines to the other tirthankanas

The head priest of the temple greeted us we gave a donation and this time decided to accept his invitation to say a blessing (mantra) for us and our families.  During the 4 or 5 minutes there were many variations on "om shanti" and once or twice "Steve…Eva" thrown in.  It was a very peaceful and spiritual moment.  In fact the whole temple had emanated a feeling of peace and tranquility.  As a blessing, he marked our foreheads with a mix of saffron and sandalwood that the priests grind to a powder there in the temple.  One funny thing, on our way out the priest was talking to another group of tourists and he called out to us "Steve and Eva" as though we were old friends.  The tourists had very confused looks on their faces.

It was a totally overwhelming experience that doesn't translate well into a blog.  Our driver asksed how much we had donated (out of curiosity) and said that compared to the Brahma temple in Pushkar the donations here were well spent on maintaining the temple and on the welfare of the people.