Category:Gopachal rock cut Jain monuments

Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments 

rock-cut Jain reliefs southeast of Gwalior Fort
Upload media
Wikipedia
Instance of	architectural structure
Location	Gwalior, Gwalior district, Gwalior division, Madhya Pradesh, India
Architectural style	rock-cut architecture
26° 12′ 53.2″ N, 78° 10′ 03″ E
Authority file  Q12424488 Reasonator Scholia Wikidocumentaries PetScan statistics WikiMap Locator tool KML file WikiShootMe OpenStreetMap Search depicted

The Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments – sometimes referred to as Patthar ki Baoli or Patthar ki Bawadi – are a group of Jain statues and inscriptions found in the southeast side of Gopagiri's Gwalior Fort, about a kilometer from the Jain reliefs of Siddhanchal caves. They depict the Jain Tirthankaras along with temple-like decorations for reverence. Some reliefs have important Jaina inscriptions.

These rock-cut Jain monuments are less visited, but they are the largest and by some measures the most important of the five Jain monuments in Gwalior. It has 18 colossal statues, with a few that tower over 30 feet.

These Jain monuments, along with nearby Hindu monuments, were defaced and mutilated by the army of the Mughal Empire founder Babur (Source: C. Levi and T. Ring, Gwalior in Asia and Oceania – International Dictionary of Historic Places). Some additional damage to the colossal statues happened when Emperor Akbar came to power, according to the memoir left by Father Antonio Monserrate – a Portuguese Jesuit priest. This memoir is notable for the lack of information available from Mughal and local sources about past thriving Jain tradition in Gwalior, and Monserrat's willingness to weave theories without corroborating evidence. For these Gopachal Jain monuments, Father Monserrat speculated that thirteen colossal statues in Goaleris (Gwalior) may be "Jesus Christ and twelve Apostles", with the note of his doubt because they "lack the characteristic insignia of Christian sacred images".

A few reliefs have been restored in the modern era with new stone faces, limbs, etc carved and reattached with adhesives to refill the gouged out faces and parts. The restored parts can be identified with a careful look for discontinuity in the material of construction and the joint.