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SOME EARLY JAINA TEMPLES IN WESTERN INDIA : 347
Tirthamātā (1244) of Mahendrasuri, Bhinmal inscription of 1277, the inscription in the Mahăvira temple (dated 1370) at Mungthala, and Vastupala-caritra (1444) of Jinaharsa aver that Mahavira Himself had visited Marubhumi or western Rajasthan. The tradition, the earliest record of which is available in the thirteenth century as mentioned above, was possibly, still older, current perhaps in the Pratihāra period as well, which actuated the founding of so many temples dedicated to Mahāvira. There is, albeit, no support to this tradition in Jaina āgama texts. We are, today, indebted to this tradition, parenthetically, for the fillip it gave to the intensive art and architectural activities by the Jainas in Western India.
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