Ranakpur is a village located in Desuri tehsil near Sadri
town in the Pali district of Rajasthan in western India. It is located between
Jodhpur and Udaipur, in a valley on the western side of the Aravalli Range.
Ranakpur is easily accessed by road from Udaipur.
Ranakpur is widely known for its marble Jain temple, and for
a much older Sun Temple which lies opposite the former.
he renowned Jain temple at Ranakpur is dedicated to Adinatha.[1]
Light colored marble has been used for the construction of this grand temple
which occupies an area of approximately 60 x 62 meters. The temple, with its
distinctive domes, shikhara, turrets and cupolas rises majestically from the
slope of a hill. Over 1444 marble pillars, carved in exquisite detail, support
the temple. The pillars are all differently carved and no two pillars are the
same. It is also said that it is impossible to count the pillars. Also all the
statues face one or the other statue. There is one beautiful carving made out
of a single marble rock where there 108 heads of snakes and numerous tails. One
cannot find the end of the tails. The image faces all four cardinal directions.
In the axis of the main entrance, on the western side, is the largest image.
The temple is designed as caumukha—with four faces.[1] The
construction of the temple and quadrupled image symbolize the Tirthankara's
conquest of the four cardinal directions and hence the cosmos.
The dating of this temple is controversial but it is largely
considered to be anywhere between the late 14th to mid-15th centuries. Inspired
by a dream of a celestial vehicle, Dharna Shah, a Porwad, is said to have
commissioned it, under the patronage of Rana Kumbha, then ruler of Mewad. The
architect who oversaw the project is said to have been named Deepaka. There is
an inscription on a pillar near the main shrine stating that in 1439 Deepaka,
an architect, constructed the temple at the direction of Dharanka, a devoted
Jain.[1]
This temple was nominated as one of the top 77 wonders in a
contest for the new seven wonders of the world.
