The ''Nābhi-nandana-jinoddhāra-prabandha'' is a 1336

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

book in the

prabandha Prabandha is a literary genre of medieval Indian Sanskrit literature. The ''prabandha''s contain semi-historical anecdotes about the lives of famous persons. They were written primarily by Jain scholars of western India (Gujarat and Malwa) from 1 ...

genre written by the Jain scholar Kakka Suri (Kakkasūri). The main objective of the book is to record the renovation of the

Rishabhanatha Rishabhanatha (Devanagari: ऋषभनाथ), also Rishabhadeva (Devanagari: ऋषभदेव, ), Rishabha (Devanagari: ऋषभ, ) or Ikshvaku (Devanagari: इक्ष्वाकु, ''Ikṣvāku''), is the first (Supreme preacher) ...

Jain temple A Jain temple, Derasar (Gujarati: દેરાસર) or Basadi (Kannada: ಬಸದಿ) is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings ge ...

Shatrunjaya Shatrunjaya, also spelled Shetrunjaya ("place of victory against inner enemies") and originally known as Pundarikgiri, is a range of hills located near the city of Palitana in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India. The hills are situated on ...

hill in Gujarat, during the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

rule. The work also provides other information, such as a history of the author's spiritual lineage (

gaccha Gaccha, alternatively spelled as Gachchha, is a monastic order, along with lay followers, of the idol worshipping Murtipujaka Śvetāmbara sect of Jainism. Etymology ''Gaccha'' literally means "who travel together". History According to Jain ...

) and a description of the Delhi Sultan

Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji (; ), born Ali Gurshasp, was a ruler from the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes in the Delhi Sultanate, related to revenue ...

's military conquests.

Background

During

Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Gujarat Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Gujarat, also known as the Muslim conquest of Gujarat, began in 1299 when the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent an army to ransack the Gujarat region of India, which was ruled by the Vaghela king Karna ...

, some Jain temples in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

had been desecrated. In 1315, Alauddin's governor

Alp Khan Alp Khan (died late 1315 or early 1316) was a general and brother-in-law of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He served as Alauddin's governor of Gujarat, and held considerable influence at the royal court of Delhi during the last year ...

allowed restoration of these temples. Samara Shaha, a wealthy merchant from Patan, led a large pilgrimage to

, and carried out a renovation of the temples in a grand ceremony. His guide was Siddhasuri, an

acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a religious teacher in Hinduism and Buddhism and a spiritual guide to Hindus and Buddhists. The designation has different meanings i ...

of the Upakesha-gaccha. This was the fifteenth renovation of the Shatrunjaya temples. During the seventh renovation, an

image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

from the sixth renovation had been hidden in a cave. Siddhasuri found this image of the Jain

tirthankara In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''Dharma (Jainism), dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a ''Tirtha (Jainism), tirtha'', a fordable passage across ''Saṃsā ...

Adinatha Rishabhanatha (Devanagari: ऋषभनाथ), also Rishabhadeva (Devanagari: ऋषभदेव, ), Rishabha (Devanagari: ऋषभ, ) or Ikshvaku (Devanagari: इक्ष्वाकु, ''Ikṣvāku''), is the first (Supreme preacher) ...

, and Samara had it reconsecrated during the fifteenth renovation. Kakka Suri, a disciple of Siddhasuri, composed ''Nabhi-nandana-jinoddhara-prabandha'' to narrate the story of this fifteenth renovation, as well as the previous renovations. The title of the work means "Narrative of the Renovation of the Temple of the Jina Who is the Joy of

Nabhi King Nabhi or Nabhi Rai was the 14th or the last '' Kulakara'' of '' avasarpini'' (the descending half of the cosmic time cycle in Jainism and the one in which the world is said to be at present). He was the father of Rishabhanatha, the first ...

". In addition, the book provides a history of the author's spiritual lineage. The text was completed in 1336 CE (1393 VS). It contains 2344 verses, which provide information about the social, economic, religious and political history of the period.

Description of Alauddin's achievements

Notably, the book also contains 9 verses describing the military conquests of the Delhi Sultan

, a Muslim whose forces had destroyed the temples. Kakka Suri does not list the motives of Muslims in destroying the temples, and suggests that such misfortunes are to be expected in the sinful

Kali Yuga ''Kali Yuga'' (Devanagari: कलियुग), in Hinduism, is the fourth, shortest, and worst of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga cycle'', preceded by '' Dvapara Yuga'' and followed by the next cycle's '' Krita (Satya) Yuga''. I ...

. He instead focuses on demonstrating the Jain community's prosperity by describing the lavish renovations. Kakka Suri describes the military conquests of Alauddin as follows:

References

Bibliography

* * Kakka Sūri. ''Nābhinandanajinoddhāraprabandha'', ed. B. Harakchand, Ahmedabad, 1928. * *

Background

Description of Alauddin's achievements

References

Bibliography

Further reading