| Temples & Legends of Bengal |
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| Temples & Legends Of
India |
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THE TEMPLES IN PURULIA |
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In the
neighboring village of Bhangarh two On a stone slab a tree of the height of about 2 cubits
has been carved out with a child sitting at the top of the tree. Under the treethere are
figures indicating the father and mother and the mother is with a baby. The figure
depicting a father has got a sacred thread and near him stand seven persons. It is
difficult to come to a correct appraisal of this specimen but probably it indicates the
birth of some Tirthankara.
At Chharra, about five miles from Purulia, the district headquarters, there are some old
temples and ruins, which are clearly of Jain origin. There are a large number of votive
Chaityas with mutilated figures of the Jain hierarchy. It was gathered that a number
of smaller relics have been removed from this area when chharra was a military colony in
the Second World War. At this village the author noticed images of Kunthanatha,
Chandra-prabhu, Dhanendra- Padmavati, Rishabhdeva and Mahavira. There is a Dharmasthan, which is a common place of worship for the
villagers. There are a number of broken images of various Tirthankaras and some very fine
specimens of head. Tradition mentions that Chharra had five stone and one brick
temple. Out of them only two stones of the broken temples, as is quite common in
this part of the country, were largely used by the villagers either of this village or the
neighboring ones in building their houses. |
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