Shri Sarvodaya Digamber Jain Temple

About Shri Sarvodaya Digamber Jain Temple

The temple stands within the Narmadakund temple complex, the inception point of the Narmada river, which puts a major Jain project in the middle of one of the most visited Hindu sites in Madhya Pradesh. It is a mega project by any measure: over INR 20 Crore is being spent, and the temple is being raised over an area of four acres.

It is understood that the new temple is going to house the world’s biggest ashtadhatu idol of a Jain Tirthankara, Bhagawan Adinatha. That idol is not in place yet. The project is still ongoing, so what a visitor sees today is a working site rather than a finished temple, and the scale of the stonework is the reason to stop.

On the site

The pillared hall

The carved stone pillared hall is the part of the temple that is furthest along and the easiest to appreciate from outside the working area. The pillars are individually worked, and the proportions already give a sense of the finished scale.

Construction in progress

A gantry crane stands over the hall, lifting stone into position. Seeing a temple of this size mid build is unusual, and the crane marks where work is currently concentrated.

The Narmadakund complex around it

The temple sits inside the complex at the inception point of the Narmada, so the walk to it passes the older shrines there. Most visitors see both in the same stop rather than making a separate trip.

Planning your visit

Treat this as a construction site that you are visiting courteously, not a completed temple. Access to parts of the structure may be restricted on any given day, and what is open can change as work moves along, so check on arrival rather than assuming.

• Follow any barriers and instructions from site staff.
• Keep clear of the crane and of areas where stone is being moved.
• Wear closed footwear, since the approach is uneven in places.
• Ask before photographing work in progress.

Best time to visit

Daylight hours, and ideally outside the monsoon, when a part built site in the hills is wet and awkward underfoot. Because the temple is still being constructed, there is no fixed darshan schedule to plan around; combining it with the Narmadakund shrines in a single morning is the sensible approach.