Hutheesing Jain Temple

The Hutheesing Temple stands outside the Delhi Darwaza in Ahmedabad. The wealthy trader Hutheesing Kesarisinh began it, and after his death at 49 his wife Harkunwar saw it through to completion in 1848, at a cost of around ₹10 lakh. Building went on through a harsh famine in Gujarat and gave hundreds of craftsmen work for two years. The chief architect was Premchand Salat, and a Hutheesing family trust still manages it.

The white marble temple faces west on a broad platform and is dedicated to Dharmanatha, the 15th tirthankara, whose marble image sits in the central sanctum. Salat combined the Maru-Gurjara style with the carved balconies, balustrades and jalis of a wooden haveli at the entrance porch. A ridged dome on twelve carved pillars covers the closed shrine hall, and a cloister of 52 small shrines rings the courtyard. In the outer court a 78-foot, six-storey Manastambha, modelled on the Kirti Stambha at Chittor, marks Mahavira's 2,500th birth anniversary.