Lodurva Jain Temple

A yellow-sandstone temple in the ruins of the old Bhati capital, known for a metal kalpavriksha and a finely cut torana.

Lodurva was the Bhati dynasty’s capital before Rawal Jaisal moved the seat to the fort at Jaisalmer in 1156, and the temple standing today sits inside the ruins of that older capital rather than in a living town — a site invaders had reason to sack, and did: Muhammad Ghori’s forces destroyed it in 1152, and it stood in ruin for over four centuries before Seth Tharu Shah rebuilt it in 1615, with further work added later in the seventeenth century.

What draws most visitors now is smaller than the temple itself: a kalpavriksha, a wish-fulfilling tree, cast in metal within the complex, and a torana — a freestanding carved archway — cut with the same fineness the desert’s Maru-Gurjara building tradition is known for at Dilwara and Ranakpur, on a much smaller and quieter site than either.

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