Bijolia is the place of Kevalagnana Kalyana of the 23rd Tirthankar Parshwanath. It is also the place of Kamatopasarga, i.e., ‘tirade of tormentation’ by Kamatha in his rebirth as Shambara. It is the place of Tirthankar Parshwanath’s 1st Samavasarana. It also houses one of the world’s largest petroglyphs. The group of Jain temples is at a distance of about 2 Kms to the South East of Bijoliya town. It was also called as Bijolian (Vindhyavali) earlier.
Inscriptions at Bijolia: Two Jain inscriptions are found at Bijolia.
1st Inscription – The one dated to Viranirvana Samvat 1226 belonging to the Chahamanas records the genealogy of the Chahamanas of Ajmer upto the coronation of Somesvara and mentions names of several Brahmanical temples, then existing in Vindhyavali and neighbouring places. One of these temples was that of Mahakala. It has 30 lines. It has 92 verses with some prose text. It opens with a salutation to “veetarag” in a small prose sentence. Such obeisance to various Tirthankars and other divinities continued upto verse 9. Then begins the genealogical portion (Raja Vamsha Varana) in verses 10-28; which is the most important portion of the epigraph. The description tallies with the Prithviraj Vijay, the Harsh inscription of V.E. 1030 and other authentic Chauhan records. From verse 29, the details of Shresthi Lolak have been given. It is said that the holy serpent of Parshwanath (V.56) appeared in dream of Shreshthi Lokark’s wife Lalita and instructed to get a temple of Parshwanath erected there, as it is the place, where foolish Kamatha tried to obstruct the penances of Parshwanath (V.60). The details of several shrines both of Shaivism and hill ranges of the area have also been given. It was composed by Gunabadhra of Mathur Sangh.
2nd Inscription – The “Uttam Sikhar Purana” has been engraved on this inscription. The “Uttam Sikhar Purana” an interesting Jain epic composed by Siddh Suri dealing the life of Lord Parshwanath It has 5 cantos with the verses as under:
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- 1st Canto – Verses 1 to 32.
- 2nd Canto – Verses 33 to 73.
- 3rd Canto – Verses 74 to 159.
- 4th Canto – Verses 161 to 261.
- 5th Canto – Verses 262 to 294.
The first canto is mostly introductory. In the second canto description of Bijoliya is given. The description of Upasarga of Kamatha, well known mythological story of Jains, is given in 3rd canto. In the 4th and 5th cantos, details of various places adjoining to Bijoliya have been recorded.
Both these inscriptions are unique as no such large Jain epigraphs have been noticed in Rajasthan.
Few more Jain inscriptions of 15th century A.D. have also been noticed from here recording the names of monks (V.E.1465 and V.E.1483)
Surrounding the ancient temple, Teerthankar idols are installed in other temples. Two Manastambhas, foot Images of 10 Ganadharas of Lord Parsvanath and 1000 other Bhagawans are engraved on a rock. New magnificent Samavsharan Mandir, Chaubeesee Mandir with 24 idols of Teerthankars in standing posture, Ganadhar Parameshthi Mandir are the other temples at the place.
Atishaya or Miracles at Bijoliya – Many miracles of Atishayas are said to have happened at Bijoliya. They are narrated as below:
- In 1169 A.D. a famous businessman of Ujjain City Shri Lolark came here during his pilgrimage, saw a dream in the night, and came to know about the ancient idol of Lord Parsvanath. According to dream in the next morning, he dug the place near a pond and thus a magnificent ancient idol of Lord Parsvanath appeared, some other idols of goddess Ambika, Padmawati, Shri Dharanendra; Kshetrapal were also found. This temple was completed in V.S. 1226 and these idols were installed in this temple on the day Falgun Krishna 3, Thursday of V.S. 1226. This is called Panchayatan Mandir surrounded by other temples.
- In V.S. 1958 a wonder happened. Seeing the temple without a principal deity, devotees thought that a basement may be there with the idol of the principal deity Lord Parshwanath. This probability was told to the king, he ordered to dig there, devotees and other persons went to the temple, they saw a stone there written as “Sopan” (Sopan means stairs) on it. It was removed and digging started but in vain, suddenly a terrible white King Cobra came there by the southern gate and stayed there. As a result of this, all people returned back.
- In the year 1858 some English men arrived at Bijolia and saw the rampart surrounding the temple and vast petrographs, they suspected the presence of hidden treasure here. So they applied mines of explosives around the petrographs. Before they fire the explosive, suddenly dense flocks of honey bees attacked them and they were compelled to run away, at the same time milk flooded out of mines.
How to Reach – Bijolia is 224 Kms from Udaipur and 85 Kms west of Kota near Uparmal Tehsil in Bhilwara district. Boarding and lodging facilities are available at this place.