Ranakpur Jain Temple

In a forested valley on the western flank of the Aravalli hills, beside the little Maghai river, a white marble temple rises in tiers of domes and spires far from any town. This is the Chaumukha temple of Ranakpur, dedicated to Adinatha (Rishabhanatha), the first Tirthankara of Jain tradition, and it is among the most revered Jain shrines in India. Local tradition says it was begun after a merchant from nearby Ghanerao, Dharna Shah, had a divine vision and resolved to build it in stone. The ruler of Mewar, Rana Kumbha, gave his patronage, and the place, and the village around it, carry his name. An inscription records the architect Depaka and the year 1439; work went on in stages through much of the fifteenth century.

The plan is what makes Ranakpur extraordinary. It is a chaumukha, a "four-faced" temple: the central sanctum holds a fourfold image of Adinatha looking out to the four cardinal directions, and the building opens towards it on all four sides, a symbol of the Tirthankara's mastery over the whole world. Around this core the temple spreads across some 4,500 square metres in a maze of halls, shrines and courtyards under around eighty domes. Everything rests on a forest of pillars, traditionally counted at 1,444, and no two are said to be carved alike. They are set so that none blocks the view of the image in the central sanctum.

The pleasure of the place is in moving slowly. Light falls from open courts onto the pale marble and shifts across the columns through the day, and every ceiling repays a look upwards, carved into dense ornament that turns the stone almost to lace. Look for the relief of Parshvanatha, cut from a single slab of marble, where the Tirthankara sits sheltered by a serpent with a thousand and eight heads while the serpents' tails knot around him. Nearby stand smaller Jain temples, including one dedicated to Parshvanatha, and about 300 metres from the main temple a Sun temple.

Getting there

Ranakpur lies in Pali district of Rajasthan, about 6 km from the town of Sadri and roughly 90 km by road from Udaipur, a drive of around two to two and a half hours through the hills. The nearest airport is Maharana Pratap Airport at Udaipur (UDR), about 73 km in a straight line. The closest railway stations are Falna, about 35 km away, and Rani; from either, the last stretch is by road.