Nakodaji Tirth

Nakodaji Tirth is a major Shvetambara Jain pilgrimage temple of Parshvanatha lying between Vikrampura and Nakoda villages in the Barmer area of Rajasthan. Legend credits the first temple to Acharya Sthulabhadra in the 3rd century BCE; the present building dates from the Solanki period in the 11th century, and 246 inscriptions record later work. Acharya Kirtisuri reinstalled the main icon in 1449, after it had been hidden from Alam Shah.

Built of Makrana marble and Jaisalmer sandstone, the temple has a richly decorated façade, a large domed main shrine with 52 domed sub-shrines, an elaborate shikhara, two life-size elephants with riders at the entrance and an underground chamber holding 35 idols. The central icon is a 24 in black stone Parshvanatha. Jains and Hindus alike worship Nakoda Bhairava, a red, four-armed, moustached guardian who rides a dog; devotees treat him as a business partner and offer him a share of their profits, and his prasada must be eaten inside the temple.