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A ravaged Jain temple corroding away with time
KARACHI: With bells ringing and the air perfumed by the smoky smell
of agarbattis, barefooted Muni (Jain priests) and Jain nuns would
have prepared for their dawn prayers in the temple courtyard. But
this once magnificent scene of the past is not to be seen anymore.
Time is fading away the multicoloured images of animals, war fields,
plants and religious leaders that have been painted on almost every
wall of the deserted temple. The walls, made with heavy granite
stones, are in a bad condition and the roof plaster has cracked into
a million little pieces.
The temple is said to be around 500 years old and is one of the few
Jain temples that still stand in Pakistan. Made in the Jain
architectural style, with statues of Jain gods and goddesses, lions
and other animals, the temple is located at the base of the
mysterious scattered mountains of Karoonjhar, behind the main market
of Nangar Town.
Nagar or Nangar is a legendary town mentioned in love stories and
mysterious folk tales and songs of Nagarparkar and Thar. Nangar is
located on one side of the Karoonjhar, whereas, on the other side,
lies the vast scattered Rann of Kachh, a legendary area famous for
its quagmires.
Parkar is a Sindhi word which means to cross and Nangarparkar means
to cross the Rann of Kachh to reach the Nangar Town, as in the past,
Rann of Kachh was a major route taken to transport different
commodities. When entering the city, the sad domes of the temple are
seen looking down about the main market of the town. The market
comprises of around four dozen shops with shingle-roofs made with
earthen glass and wooden doors. The market buildings and the faces
of the shops reveal that the market itself is very old, though not
as old as the temple.
The white coloured temple is the tallest building of the town, as it
sits on top of a slope and looks down onto the town. Behind the
temple, red-coloured Karoonjhar Mountains stand, silently watching
over everything. A small faded blue board hanging in the market
reads, both in English and in Sindhi, the directions to the temple.
Reaching the temple, a huge sign, put up by the department of
archaeology warns that the temple is a protected site and no one is
allowed to destroy it. Unfortunately, it seems as if no one pays
attention to what the board says, as someone has removed the stones
from the compound wall of the temple and the main gate has been
unhinged and taken, making it open to wild animals to freely roam
around and enter the temple.
Almost all the paintings on the temple walls have been scratched and
the temple is entirely deserted. For the past many years, no one has
even bothered to sweep this heritage site. Not a single Jain is
living in the area to look after the temple. In the past, there were
several Jain families living in Nangarparkar, but now there is no
one. 84-year-old Ali Nawaz Khosho, a resident of Nangar town, is the
only person who witnessed the temple being used and in its prime.
“There were several Jain families living here when I was a child, I
still remember my Jain friends,” Khosho said, recalling the past.
He still remembers the last Jain family. “Before the partition of
sub-continent, Rann of Kachh was the only route used to transport
silver, gold, species and China Boski cloth, as at the time, there
was no transport tax levied on the route; Jain families once lived
in Nangar, Adhigam, Gorri and Sabo Sirh and were businessmen,” said
Khosho. He still remembers the year and the day when the last Jain
family left Nangar Town. “It was early morning in 1941, when Popat
Lal, his wife, Daiwari, and their two-month-old son, Muni Lal, left
Nangar on camels for India. They left because there was no other
Jain family left in the area,” Khosho recalled
Daily Times: Text and photos by Amar
Guriro May
04,2009
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