History, Importance, Timings, Architecture, Nearby Places to Visit and Travel Guide of Ranakpur Jain Temple, Ranakpur, Pali, Rajasthan, India
Ranakpur Jain Temple also popular as Chaturmukha Dharana Vihara is dedicated to first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha or Adinath which is located in village Ranakpur of Desuri Tehsil, near Sadri town in Pali district of Rajasthan, in heart of Aravalli Hills and just at 95 km from Udaipur and around 50 km from Kumbhalgarh. Ranakpur Temple is one of the largest and most significant temples for Jain community and considered as one of the five major pilgrimage places for Jainism. The Ranakpur Jain Temple is very popular for its gorgeous work of art, superb architecture and history.
As per the legend, in the 15th century, Jain businessman and minister named Dharna Shah had dream of building a nalini gulmavimana or flying pillared palace or celestial vehicle in honour of First Tirthankar Adinath. To fulfil his dream he had determined to build a beautiful temple and met many renowned artists and sculptors to submit their plans and designs for the temple. Finally he likes the plan of architect Deepak or Depa from Mundara and he was deeply touched by the devotion of Dharna and promised to create a temple which would prove to be as beautiful as Dharna’s dream. Then Dharna approached Rana Kumbha, who was the king of the Mewar then, for land to build Jain temple. Rana provided him the land and also suggested to create a town near the temple which is now known as Ranakpur named after the king.
The temple and the town were named Ranpur after the name of King Kumbha Rana. Ranpur is also popularly known as Ranakpur.
Then temple construction was started in 1446 and it took around 50 years to completed and finally in 1496, idols were installed in temple campus by Acharya Somalsundarsunii.
Ranakpur temple has four inventive entrances which leads to four chamber and finally to main hall, the main chamber or Gabhara - Sanctum sanctorum of the temple where four huge white marble images of Lord Adinath are placed. These 72 inches tall images have been installed in such manner like facing the four different directions thus temple is popular as Chaturmukh Jain Temple. The entire temple campus lies in around 48000 sq feet of land and rising 102 feet with three storeys.
The main attraction of temple campus is its infinite pillar, there are around 1444 unique marble pillar. These beautiful carved pillar with depiction of animals and heroes etc. and scattered in all around the campus in stunning manner. Thus temple is also called a treasure house of pillars or a city of pillars. In every direction devotee’s eyes meet pillars and pillars big, small, broad, narrow, ornate or plain. But the creative designer had arranged them in such a manner that none of them obstructs the view of idol of God. From any corner of the temple you can easily view the Lord's image. The domes hold glowing images of the Gods and Goddesses which is another attraction. The images of Dharana shah and Deepak who designed this temple are placed on the west side of the Meghananda Mandapa, facing the image of the Lord Adinath. Besides the seventy six smaller domed shrines, four Ranga mandapas, four Principal Shrines located in four directions, a number of big and small Shrines in all 84 in number stand elaborating the temple, inspiring man to strive for emancipation from cycles of 84 lakhs of birth and death and attain eternal salvation. For beauty of Ranakpur Temple, it was also nominated amongst the top 77 wonders, while deciding for new Seven Wonders of the World. The tourists are allowed to visit the temple from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The temple is open after noon for those who want to offer prayer in the temple.
Lord Adinath, Neminath, Parshvanath, Surya dev and Amba Mata are the deities are worshipped here.
Nearby attraction from the Ranakpur Jain temples are, Kumbhalgarh – the historical site at just 30 km northeast of Ranakpur. It has the most significant fort in the Mewar region after Chittaurgarh and second large wall after china wall. Sadri, eight km away, is famous for some beautiful temples like Varahavtar temple and the Chintamani Parsvanath temple here. Temple of Lord Shiva, Lord Hanuman and Navi Mata are among some noteworthy temples at Desuri at around 16 km from Ranakpur. Another nearby place is Ghanerao, where the temple of Gajanand is highly sacred with a life-size statue of the goddesses Riddhi and Siddhi. The Muchhal Mahavir temple is situated about five km from Ghanerao in the Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary.
How to reach Ranakpur Jain Temple, Ranakpur, Rajasthan
As Ranakpur holds high spiritual and architecture significance across the world and thousands to tourist and devotee visits here throughout the year, it is very well connected via Road, Rail and Air network. Tourists can reach here by car or by bus. The nearest airport is Udaipur Domestic Airport at just 93 kilometres and approximately 2.5-hour drive. Falna railway station is the closest railway station from the Ranakpur Jain Temple at 36 kilometres away. There are several trains for Delhi, Chittaurgarh, Ajmer, Jaipur etc. from Udaipur railway station. State transport corporation buses and private buses are connected with Ranakpur via Udaipur from Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Jodhpur, Chittaurgarh, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Mt Abu etc.
