1838.] Account of the Jain Temple at Badrdsir. 431 



VII. — An account of the Jain Temple at Badidsir; and ruins of Badrd- 

 nagri in the province of Catch. By Lieut. W. Postans. 

 The temple, of which the accompanying is a plan, is situated near 

 the town of Badrdsir, in this province, about 30 miles south from 

 Bhoj, and about two miles from the gulf of Cutch, in the portion of the 

 country called the kdntd, (or coast.) Surrounding this building may 

 be traced the remains of numerous habitations which, according to 

 tradition, once belonged to the ancient town of Badrdnagri, a sea-port 

 and nourishing place. The temple is said to have been originally 

 erected by one Jaggrusa*, a banyan, about 800 years since, during the 

 prosperous days of Badrdnagri, of which Jaggrusa' was a wealthy inha- 

 bitant. It is built of the sandstone peculiar to the province, in the 

 form of an oblong square, the sides of which respectively face to the 

 cardinal points, and may be about 30 feet high. The only entrance is 

 to the north, under a portico of two stones, and low doorway with flight 

 of steps. With the exception of this front, which is elaborately carved 

 in the pagoda style of architecture, the other three sides present 

 nothing externally, but flat stone walls ; the interior however amply 

 compensates for this want of exterior ornament. I have not had the 

 advantage of seeing any of this description of temple elsewhere, and 

 this is, I have reason to believe, the only one of the kind in Cutch, but I 

 am informed that it is not unusual for these buildings to present the 

 same uninteresting features externally, whilst their interiors are orna- 

 mented even more profusely than the Hinduf . The inside of the 

 building may be considered as divided into two parts, that nearest the 

 entrance, which may be styled the vestibule, is covered in and support- 

 ed by 45 pillars with two domes ; whilst the further end of the quadran- 

 gle, containing the sanctum or pagoda, in which is the depository for 

 the figure of Parasnath, is open at the top. This pagoda rises higher 

 than the surrounding building, and is most beautifully and elaborately 

 carved with figures, many of them large but generally on a small scale ; 

 if exceptions should be taken to the attitudes of some of these, they 

 must still rank very high as specimens of this description of sculpture. 

 The figures of Parasnath (who is one of the twenty-four saints pe- 

 culiar to this sect), and his attendants, as represented in the accom- 

 panying sketch, are of white marble, answering to the same descrip- 

 tion as I once observed in some figures from the temples at A'bd%. 



* More probably of the Sah coin dynasty ?— W. H. W. 



T According to Dr. Buchanan, this temple will come under the denomination 

 of Basti. See article on the Jains, vol. 9th of Asiatic Researches. 



X They are stated to have been brought from Guzerat .-indeed the marble is not 

 procurable in Cutch. 



