Jivaraj Papriwal

Who is Jivaraj Papriwal?

Jivaraja Paprival was the installer of as many as 100,000 Jain images in the 15th century, now found in Jain temples all over India. He was a trader in the Rajasthani town of Modasa.

India was overrun during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Turkish invaders. The two centuries following were a period of great devastation in North India. Temples were demolished and idols were defaced. These temple images had marked the tradition and identity of the Jain congregations, but few were left.

Paprival resolved that regardless of cost, and the fierce political climate he would find a way to install as many images of Lord Jina as may be needed by Jain communities residing in towns and villages situated anywhere in India. He commissioned teams of workers to cut slabs of marble from quarries and employed armies of craftsmen to carve the images.

संवत १५४८ वर्षे वैशाख सुदी ३ श्री मूलसंघे श्री जिनचन्द्रदेव साह जीवराज पपडीवाल नित्यं प्रणमंति सहर मुडासा राजा स्योसिंघ

In 1491, Bhattaraka Jinachandra Deva of Mula Sangh supervised a grand pratishtha or consecration of as many as 100,000 images.

Jivaraja, with an enormous train of carts, then embarked on a pilgrimage to nearly all the Jain Tirthas of India. Braving the possibility of hostile confrontations with the invaders, wherever shravakas along the way lacked an idol he installed images.