Devotees throng Varur for Teertha

Devotees throng Varur for Teertha
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

15 Jan, 2007 2314hrs IST

HUBLI: A new Jain pilgrim centre emerged on the map of Karnataka on Monday, with the inauguration of the Navagraha Teertha, which was thrown open to devotees at Varur near here, to promote world peace and harmony.

Dedicated to Bhagwan Parashwanath and eight other Jain tirthankaras before him, it is believed to remove graha doshas by propitiating the nine planets, by worshipping the tirthankaras presiding over them.

Former deputy prime minister Lal Kishan Advani performed the pada pooja of the newly-installed monolithic statue of Bhagwan Parashwanath, the 23rd tirthankara of the Jains, to mark the beginning of the 12-day Panchkalyana Pratishta and the Mahamasthakabhisheka.

A sort of mini-Shravanabelagola in the making, the Mahamastakabhisheaka of Bhagwan Parashwanath will be performed here after every nine years, nine months and nine days, as against the similar anointing ceremony of Lord Bahubali at Shravanabelagola every 12 years.

While Bhagwan Parashwanath is believed to preside over Ketu, Bhagwan Padmaprabhu rules the Sun, Bhagwan Chandraprabhu over the Moon, Vasupujya over Mars, Mallinath over Mercury, Mahaveera over Jupiter, Pushpadanta over Venus, Munisruvata over Saturn and Neminath over Rahu.

A brainchild of Acharya Gunadhar Nandi, it has come up over 40 acres of pristine land on the Pune-Bangalore road, 20 km from here, in less than two years. Nine teertha kundas and a college are also planned.

Advani, who also hoisted the Jain religious flag to mark the commencement of the anointing ceremony, quoted Jawaharlal Nehru to say that "pilgrim centres tied India through a silken bond and have ensured its unity in diversity over the millennia".

Responding to the Acharya's desire that eggs should not be served to schoolchildren as part of their midday meal, Advani said he was hopeful that the seer's wish would be fulfilled by the central government, which had suggested the change in the first place.

Deputy chief minister B S Yediyurappa announced a grant of Rs 2 crore in the next state budget for the development of Varur as a tourist centre. He assured the seer that he would try to persuade the chief minister to ensure that milk is served to the children instead of eggs.

BJP general secretary Anant Kumar rendered Advani's Hindi address into Kannada for the benefit of the large gathering. District in-charge minister Jagadish Shettar, MP Prahlad Joshi and a large number of Jain sadhus and sadhvis were among those present.