Bhandari Basadi (Bhavya Chudamani Jina Temple)

Facing north opposite the monastery, the Chaturvimshati Tirthankara Basadi (Bhandari Basadi) is the largest of all the Basadis at Belagola. An inscription states that Hulla, the treasurer of Hoysala king Narasimha I, built it in AD 1159; hence it came to be known as Bhandari Basadi. King Narasimha called this Jinalaya ‘Bhavya Chudamani,’ while another inscription describes it as the ‘Ornament of Gommatapura.’ Since the Basadi was enlarged at different times, it incorporates several architectural styles. Its spacious three-bay hall, built with 200 massive stone pillars, and the great protective stone wall around it are striking. The long rectangular building is divided into three parts and contains a sanctum, sukhanasi, navaranga, entrance hall, and enclosure. Apart from the engaged pillars along the walls, the sanctum has twelve pillars. On an ornate 48-foot-long pedestal adjoining the wall are beautiful images of the twenty-four Tirthankaras. Their emblems are carved on the pedestal, and the aureoles carry scrolling ornamental arches. Beside every Jina image are the corresponding Yaksha and Yakshi.

The sanctum has two doors: one opens into the navaranga and the other, on the right, opens outside. These Hoysala-period doorways are made of soapstone. In the spacious navaranga, four rooms lie between the sanctum wall and the hall; an image of Mother Padmavati is on the left and Brahmadeva on the right. The exceptionally beautiful navaranga doorway testifies to Hoysala artistry. Above the central opening are rare reliefs of Saudharmendra dancing on both sides. Gandharva couples appear beside the ornamental arch, while the lower part bears reliefs of warriors, male and female dancers, monks, Gandharvas, and lay devotees. The spacious navaranga contains thirty-six pillars. Two doorways in its side walls resemble Hoysala-period work in their ornamentation.

The Saraswati Mantapa, tower, enclosure, and manastambhas belong to the Vijayanagara period. The pillars of the large open hall bear many fine reliefs. An inscription on the pillar carrying the Saraswati image records that Devappa—a Jain poet and the son of Bukkaraya, chief minister of Changaluva Nanjunda Odeya—restored this Saraswati Mantapa. Because the hall was used for discourses, the name ‘Saraswati Mantapa’ is appropriate. A pillared cloister surrounds the Basadi, built with massive pillars and roofed with stone slabs. An early Vijayanagara inscription of Bukkaraya is found here, suggesting that the Basadi may also have been a centre of religious activity. Five inscriptions are preserved in Bhandari Basadi: the inscription of Vira Bukkaraya dated AD 1368, Bhandari Hulla’s inscription of AD 1159, the Savaneri grant of AD 1165, Devara Vallabha Deva’s revenue inscription of AD 1278, and Hullappa’s endowment inscription of 1159. During the annual festival, the great chariot of Lord Shri 1008 Neminatha Tirthankara and the sacred site’s presiding deity, Goddess Kushmandini, circumambulates this Basadi.