Gori Temple

History

The temple was raised during the ascendancy of the Sodha Rajputs in the Parkar country, in a Gujarati style, on a high platform — roughly 125 by 60 feet, built of white marble, with three mandapas and fifty-two domes. The domed ceiling of the canopy carries paintings of Parshvanatha being welcomed by yakshas and yakshinis, along with images of the Tirthankaras Neminatha and Mahavira. The building was later damaged by fire and gunpowder during a colonial military action under Colonel Tyrwhitt, and an inscription records a repair in 1715.

Historical Significance

The frescoes are the oldest Jain wall paintings surviving in the northern subcontinent. In 2016 the temple and its neighbours were placed on Pakistan's UNESCO World Heritage tentative list as the Nagarparkar Cultural Landscape.

Architecture

The temple stands 23 km north-west of Virawah and closely resembles those at Bhodesar. The marks of fire and gunpowder used by Colonel Tyrwhitt are still plain on it, yet it remains one of the best-preserved temples surviving in the region. It is built of local stone with pillars and detailing in marble brought from Rajputana, and falls into three parts: an outer stone mandapa with marble pillars under a corbelled dome, an inner mandapa of similar design supplemented by small cells, and the shrine itself, which once carried a shikhara of the typical Kathiawar type and is now crowned instead with rows of miniature shikharas.

Why Visit

A white marble Jain temple under fifty-two domes in the Thar desert, holding paintings that exist nowhere else.

Interesting Facts

• The ceiling frescoes are the oldest surviving Jain paintings in the northern subcontinent
• Fifty-two domes stand over a building of white marble, roughly 125 by 60 feet
• It is dedicated to Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara
• On the UNESCO tentative list since 2016 as part of the Nagarparkar Cultural Landscape