Kulpakji

Also Kolanupaka

An old temple in Telangana holding a jade image of Mahavira and a Rishabhadeva said to be among the oldest in worship.

A Telangana pilgrimage site built around an image known as Manikya Swami, held by tradition to have been consecrated by Bharata, Rishabhadeva’s son and the first Chakravartin — a claim of great antiquity that, as with most such claims for a specific murti, is a matter of tradition rather than something archaeology can confirm or deny.

The temple is one of the few major Jain pilgrimage centres in the Deccan away from Karnataka’s basadi belt, and serves a Telugu-speaking Jain community much smaller than its counterparts further west and south.

Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.