Fort Rajawada and the Jain Temples

Entrance to the Shree Chandraprabhswami Ji Temple.

Carved out of sandstone, the work and detail is amazing.

Entrance to one of the other temples in the complex.

The tops that are only visible from here, or the rooftops of the other buildings.

Monday, March 26th continued.

Fort Rajwada is built on Trikuta Hill on the edge of the Thar Desert. It is situated in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is believed to be one of the very few (perhaps the only) “living forts” in the world, as nearly one fourth of the old city's population still resides within the fort. For the better part of its 800-year history, the fort was the city of Jaisalmer. The first settlements outside the fort walls, to accommodate the growing population of Jaisalmer, are said to have come up in the 17th century. 

Jaisalmer Fort is the second oldest fort in Rajasthan, built in 1156 AD by the Rajput Rawal (ruler) Jaisal from whom it derives its name, and stood at the crossroads of important trade routes including the ancient Silk Road. In around this time there lived a group of people called the Jains, who were religious refugees, who fled here to escape persecution by Muslims. They had their own religion that was different from both Buddhism and Hinduism. They were exceptionally good traders, trading in precious metals and opium. They also collected taxes for right of passage of the caravans that stopped by for trading and food and water. With their riches they financed the fortifications of the fort and built five connected, beautiful sandstone temples, called Shree Chandraprabhswami Ji Temple. They are built within the walls of the city fort.

Jainism is an ancient religion from India that teaches that the way to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation. The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe and for the health of the universe itself. Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls. Each of these souls is considered of equal value and should be treated with respect and compassion. Jains are strict vegetarians and live in a way that minimises their use of the world’s resources. Jains believe in reincarnation and seek to attain ultimate liberation - which means escaping the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth so that the immortal soul lives for ever in a state of bliss. Liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul. Jainism is a religion of self-help. There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings. The three guiding principles of Jainism, the ‘three jewels’, are right belief, right knowledge and right conduct. 

The supreme principle of Jain living is non-violence (ahimsa). It is said that Mahatma Ghandi got his inspiration for non-violent protest from Jainism. This is one of the 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows). The other mahavratas are non-attachment to possessions, not lying, not stealing, and sexual restraint (with celibacy as the ideal).

Mahavira is regarded as the man who gave Jainism its present-day form. The texts containing the teachings of Mahavira are called the Agamas. Jainism has no priests. Its professional religious people are monks and nuns, who lead strict and ascetic lives.

Most Jains live in India, and according to the 2001 Census of India there are around 4.2 million living there. However, the Oxford Handbook of Global Religions, published in 2006, suggests that census figures may provide lower than the true number of followers as many Jains identify themselves as Hindu.

The swastika is an important Jain symbol, as it is in Hinduism as well, and has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Its four arms symbolise the four realms of existence in which rebirth occurs according to Jainism: humans, heavenly beings, hellish beings and non-humans (plants and animals). This is conceptually similar to the six realms of rebirth represented by bhavachakra in Buddhism. It is usually shown with three dots on the top, which represent the three jewels mentioned in ancient texts such as Tuttvartha Sutra: correct faith, correct understanding and correct conduct. These jewels are the means believed in Jainism to lead one to the state of spiritual perfection, a state that is symbolically represented by a crescent and one dot on top representing the liberated soul. The swastika can face right, left or being set on a 45 degree angle.

Jainism considers meditation a necessary practice, but its goals are very different than those in Buddhism and Hinduism. In Jainism, meditation is concerned more with stopping karmic attachments and activity, not as a means to transformational insights or self-realization in other Indian religions.