Hutheesing Jain Temple

About

The Hutheesing Temple rises just outside the Delhi Darwaza of the old city of Ahmedabad, a serene white marble sanctuary set within a colonnaded courtyard. Built in 1848 by the Hutheesing family of merchants, it weaves together the classical Maru-Gurjara Temple idiom with elements drawn from the Gujarati haveli.

The principal shrine is dedicated to Bhagvan Dharmanatha, whose marble image is enshrined in the central garbhagriha. The Temple is of the nirandhara-prasada type, without a circumambulatory passage, and rises in two storeys. Its plan unfolds in a line of garbhagriha, gudhamandapa, vestibule, and sabhamandapa, each crowned by its own shikhara, while a richly carved ridged dome above the gudhamandapa is borne on twelve ornate pillars.

The principal Temple honours eleven Tirthankaras, five in the upper sanctuaries and six in the basement. Around the central shrine, an open courtyard is lined by a cloister of fifty-two devakulikas, each a small subsidiary shrine housing a sacred image. In the outer court rises a manastambha, a six-storey column of honour about seventy-eight feet tall, raised to mark the 2500th birth anniversary of Bhagvan Mahavira.

The Maru-Gurjara carving here takes its place in the wider Solanki-era tradition that flowered at Bhadreshwar and Ranakpur. The Temple is also known for its rainwater harvesting system, a quiet sign of the Jain commitment to care for the elements of nature.

History

The Temple was conceived by the Ahmedabad merchant Sheth Hutheesing Kesarisinh and, after his death at forty-nine, carried to completion by his widow Harkunwar under the design of the chief sthapati Premchand Salat. Construction fell during a severe famine in Gujarat, and the two years of work it gave to hundreds of skilled artisans became itself a form of dana, sustaining the craft community through hardship. A six-storey manastambha nearly seventy-eight feet tall was later raised in the outer courtyard to mark the 2,500th birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira.

Significance

The Temple's marble image of Lord Dharmanatha sits at the centre of a cloistered courtyard lined by fifty-two devakulikas, each sheltering its own sacred image, while the surrounding carving of elephants, dancers, and celestial figures carries the Maru-Gurjara idiom seen at Bhadreshwar and Ranakpur forward into the nineteenth century. The Temple remains in the care of the Hutheesing family trust and is known also for its rainwater harvesting system, a quiet expression of Jain regard for the elements.

Architecture

Maru-Gurjara Temple architecture blended with Gujarati haveli elements, built in white marble