This statue is taller than Gomata

This statue is taller than the Gomateshwara of Shravanabelogala in Hassan district of Karnataka. Like the Gomateshwara, this too is a statue of  one of the Jain Thirthankaras.

While the date and year in which the Gomata statue was consecrated is known, this statue unfortunately cannot be precisely dated. What is generally known is that it is an ancient statue but apart from that not much is known about it. We can only date it to a particular century.

Though the place is known among the Jains as it is a pilgrim centre, outsiders are either ignorant or unaware of this beautiful statue. Tourists too are not aware of this beautiful monolith.

This is the statue of Adinath, the first of the Jain Thirthankaras and the statue is in Barwani in the State of Madhya Pradesh.

This is one of the tallest statues in the world and it rises to an imposing height of 84 feet or 26 metres.

The difference between the statues of Gomata and here is that unlike the Shravanabelogala one, this statue has support at the back. All we know  is that this statue was built in the 12^th century.

The statue of Adinath is in Malwa region at the foothills of the beautiful Satpura ranges.

 The Malwa region is locate between Satpura and Vindhyachal mountains. The Narmada, Shipra and Chambal rivers flow in the region.    

The Satpura ranges have been the favorite place of great ascetics and preceptors for centuries and Bawangaja or its district headquarters of Barwani is no exception. The town is at a height of  4,000 feet (1,219.4 m) and it is all the more holy as it houses the idol of the founder of Jainism who is also the first of the Thirthankaras- Rishabh Dev or Adinath.

The statue is carved on single stone and Adinath is in meditation.

The place where the idol is consecrated is called as Chulgiri Siddha Kshetra and it is made by of a single stone.

The Khadgasan idol is made of brown stone. As no written evidence is available regarding its construction it is very difficult to say anything about its construction period.

The hands of Adinath are not joined with legs but are made separate. The idol has perfect proportions and its parts are  symmetrical. There is a balanced image of all emotions like joy, mercy and separation on the face of  Adinath.

On the left side of the idol is the four armed Gomukh Yaksha and on the right is 16-armed Yakshi Chakreshvary. The entire idol can be seen only from some distance but the nearer you get to the idol, the lesser view you get of the monolith.

This is also the place of meditation and Nirvana  of Ravana’s son Indrajeet and of Ravana’s younger brother Kumbakarna and several other Jain ascetics.

There are ten other Jain temples nearby and they were constructed in the 15th century. Buses are available for Bawangaja from Badwani  every 30 minutes. Buses are available from Indore, Ujjain, Khandwa and Baroda  
The nearest railway station is Indore which is 160 km from Badwani.  The nearest airport is Indore. Accommodation and food is available at the temple itself.