Alangadu Jain Temple, Tirupur
The
Alangadu Jain Temple is dedicated to Lord Adinath, the 24th Jain Thirthankar.
This ancient temple enshrines an idol of Lord Adinath, along with a golden
coloured idol of Lord Neminath, who is assumed to be the 22nd Thirthankar of
Jains. It is one of the popular shrines belonging to the Jain community and is
located in Alangadu of Tirupur District.
A Jain
temple situated about 12 kms from Uthukuli, is believed to be centuries old.
Though so ancient, few people seem to know of its existence. Only a handful of
Jain families and some others from the neighbourhood are aware of its presence.
A family
belonging to the Digambar Jain community comes all the way from Mysore to
conduct a puja at the temple. They say their family has been doing it for
hundreds of years. Though relatively a smaller shrine, any heritage tourist can
get attracted by the aesthetically carved images of gods and goddesses on the
temple pillars.
Sadly,
the main idol in the temple, Chandraprabatheerthangar was stolen in the
mid-1990s and it has not been recovered yet and now the temple holds only the
idols of Rishabadevar and Kushmandini.
