File:Jaina statues and iconography in Jain temples group, Badoh, Madhya Pradesh 007.jpg

English: The Jain group of temples consists of twenty five Jain temples in Badoh. They are located about 600 meters north-northwest of the Gadarmal Yogini temples site, closer to the Gyannath hill.

The Jain temple group shrines date from c. 9th to 12th-century CE. They were restored in 1920s. Like Gadarmal and a few other sites, the restoration effort made errors in placing the Jain artwork and they used available scattered temple parts per their best guess. Thus, the temples look odd and haphazard.

The shrines have Jain Tirthankara statues, with iconography that is typical of the Digambara tradition. Almost all are defaced and show signs of deliberate mutilation. A few smaller Jain statues that were excavated nearby are in better shape and they are also stored inside at this site. The temple architecture is Nagara-style of 9th and later centuries. Some shrines have dome-like covers, these are from the 20th-century restoration effort to cover the torn ceilings and prevent further damage to the inside.

While some Hindu deities such as Ganesha, Ganga and Yamuna are seen in numerous Jain sites, this Jain temple group of Badoh is quite odd. It has many Hindu – such as Narasimha, Surya, Nataraja and Kartikeya – artwork panels in lower sections of various Jain shrines (these were not restored sections). This presence of Hindu artwork in this historic Jain temples complex may be because (a) the Jains converted a Hindu site for their worship without erasing signs of Hindu deities, or (b) it was a mixed Jain-Hindu site when it was originally built, or (c) that the Hindus abandoned their shrines in this complex, centuries later the Jains adopted this entire site and added Jaina idols for their worship rituals. Evidence is not yet available to ascertain what actually happened.

Background:

Badoh-Pathari was a major ancient religious and trade hub with many 4th to 6th-century Gupta era monuments and inscriptions, as well as temples through the 11th-century. Rock paintings, microliths and archaeological items discovered here and locations within about 10 miles suggest that this is one of most ancient sites with human activity and creative innovation in central India. Badoh-Pathari along with nearby sites such as Eran and Ramgarh have yielded objective evidence for better understanding of ancient India, as well as the development of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Sanskrit texts and early inscriptions found in this region call it Vatodaka. This likely evolved to Vatanagara, then Barnagara, finally to their modern era rural vernacular names.

Badoh-Pathari are now a pair of neighboring villages in eastern Malwa, Vidisha district. Pathari means "rocky, hillock" it is the older site and now the village to the north of Badoh. They are located in a somewhat remote, scenic terrain punctuated by monadnocks. The twin villages are in a valley within four hills – Gyannath, Gadori, Anhora and Sapa – of which the Gyannath (Jnannath) hill is the highest. These hillocks are a rich source of beautiful and excellent constructional sandstone, and they offered a natural resource to build caves, stambhas (pillars) and temples.

Badoh-Pathari has many notable Hindu temples with Shiva, Devi (Shakta) and Vishnu artwork, as well as some notable Jain monuments. Modern highways and roads built in late 2010s have significantly improved access to numerous historic sites centered around Badoh-Pathari.