Place · Digambara Jain temple · India
Mahavir Ji, Sawai Madhopur
Also known as Mahavir Ji, Mahavir Ji — Sri Mahavirji, Mahavira, Mahavira (Chandanpur), Sawai Madhopur, Sri Mahavirji
The Shri Mahavir Ji Jain tirtha at Mahavir Ji in Sawai Madhopur district, Rajasthan, 110 kilometres from Jaipur — one of the largest Digambara Jain pilgrimage centres in India. The temple's foundation legend holds that the Mahavira idol (a seated Tirthankara figure) was discovered by a Chamar cowherd in 1801 at the Chandrabhaga river bank near the current temple site, and was then enshrined by the Jain community of the region. The temple's current structure was built 1884 and expanded through the 20-century with major 1963 Shikhara addition. The annual Mahavir Jayanti festival (Chaitra Shukla Trayodashi, March-April) draws over 500,000 Digambara Jain pilgrims from across North India. The Shri Mahavir Ji Digambar Jain Atishaya Kshetra Committee manages the complex, which includes 15+ ancillary shrines and a large pilgrim-service infrastructure. The adjacent Chandrabhaga Mela draws Bhil tribal pilgrims.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 26.791, 76.991
Connections (2)
- Companion in the same setKesariyaji, Udaipur
Kesariyājī in the Aravallis and Mahāvīr Ji in Sawai Madhopur are the two Rajasthan Digambara tirthas with large Bhil and Mīna followings, and both have a founding story in which an Adivasi finds the image. Their fairs are among the few religious occasions where Jain and Adivasi worship the same shrine together.
- Companion in the same setKhatushyam, Sikar
Mahāvīr Ji and Khātūśyāmjī are the two largest fairs of eastern Rajasthan, a Digambara tirtha and a folk-deity shrine within a hundred and fifty kilometres. Both draw a crowd that does not sort itself by sect, and both were built up on Marwari trading wealth. Mahāvīr Ji's image is said to have been found by a Bhil herdsman whose cow gave milk over the spot, and his descendants keep a hereditary ritual role at the fair.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Mahavira”. Jain tīrtha guides and the Digambara and Śvetāmbara temple trusts’ own records.
Open Mahavir Ji, Sawai Madhopur in the repository →