Surprise Culinary Delights At Tijara, Rajasthan

Tijara is a small temple town 75 km from Gurgaon or 100 Km from Delhi on the Dharuhera-Alwar road. It is best known for the Digambar Jain temple here. But I discovered some other small wonders here.

Tijara Atishaya Kshetra

It is an important place for Jains since ancient times. A place where idols are worshiped is called Dehra and it is one such place. In ancient times when the Jain religion was flourishing, Tijara was one of their important centers and it had a lot of Jain temples, all of which were destroyed during the medieval period. This is in congruence with the fact that South Delhi also has lots of Jain temples and in fact, according to Jain texts, this area was called Yoginipura.

According to the Jain Teerth website: The principal deity of Tijara Atishaya Kshetra is Bhagwan Chandra Prabhu (The 8th Teerthankar). The idol of Bhagwan Chandra Prabhu is very beautiful and attractive in Padmasana Posture made of white stone that was discovered on August 16, 1956, after digging. Mrs. Saraswati Devi wife of Vaidya Shri Bihari Lal kept fast for three days. On the night of 3rd day, Mrs. Saraswati Devi saw a dream and came to know about the place where the idol may be found. According to the dream the next morning, this miraculous idol of Bhagwan Chandra Prabhu was discovered.

At the time of discovery of this idol, the rain started after digging and thus consecration of the idol took place naturally. On March 29, 1972, another idol of Bhagwan Chandra Prabhu was discovered, black in color, in Padmasana Posture after digging under the gate of a room situated in the south of the temple premises, under the guidance of Poojya Acharya Nirmal Sagarji Maharaj.

Vedic Age

It is said that the place dates back to the Vedic age or Satyuga and was called Trigatpura then. There is a mention of this place in the story of Shravan Kumar.

A huge Dharamshala that can accommodate many people and a Bhojanalaya that serves food is located along with the temple. The complex is fairly new but you can see the typical Jain temple features like glass paintings and carved pillars. Temple is peaceful and you can spend some quiet time here. The original place where the idols were found is now behind the main temple where the found idols were installed.

Culinary delights

The best part was the small market outside the temple. If you ever go there do not forget to pick up all kinds of savories, pickles, papads, Panipuris, and kalakand, and eat the pakoras to your heart’s content. Kalakand is a specialty of this place and you would find rows of sweet shops selling it. Though I knew about the Tijara fort, we just could not figure out the way to it and had to give it a miss. I am hoping that there would be another time to visit it.

It is a small little getaway that you can do as a day trip from Delhi.

Recommend you to read the following Places to visit in Rajasthan.

Nathdwara – a town that revolves around Shrinathji

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Neemrana Fort & Palace

The deceptive Deeg Palace

The little gem of Rajasthan – Alwar