The Builder of the Garden Temple

Summary

Rama Kant Jain’s article narrates the history of Calcutta’s famous Garden Temple (also known as the Badri Das Temple or Sitalanath Jinalaya) and focuses on the person responsible for its construction. The essay opens by noting that a postage stamp issued in 1935 commemorated this modern Jain shrine, yet little was known about the builder beyond his name, Rai Badridas Bahadur, Mookim to the Viceroy. Drawing on philatelic literature and oral tradition, the author reconstructs the life of the merchant who built the temple and shows that behind him stood a remarkable Jain woman. Badridas came from a jeweller family in Lucknow; in the early 1850s he migrated to Calcutta, where he became a prosperous diamond and precious‑stone dealer and was later honoured by the British government with the title ‘Rai Bahadur’. According to the article, it was his pious mother, Khushal Kunwari, who inspired him to build a grand temple dedicated to the Tīrthaṅkara Sitalanath. Badridas purchased a plot with a large tank in north Calcutta, turned it into an ornate garden with lawns and mosaics, and erected a richly decorated temple. He even travelled to Agra to obtain an antique marble image of Sitalanath under the guidance of a saint who mysteriously disappeared after handing over the icon. The author describes the temple’s architecture: richly enamelled interiors, pillars with hand‑cut glass chandeliers, frescoes of Jain Tirthas and mythological scenes, and over forty paintings illustrating Jain chariot processions and festivals. The temple was consecrated in 1868 and quickly became a landmark visited by devotees, tourists and dignitaries. The article emphasises that the real credit for its construction belongs to Khushal Kunwari, whose devotion and generosity prompted her son to invest his wealth in a monument that immortalises both his name and the Jain community’s artistic taste. Jain concludes by summarising sources used, including pamphlets and oral testimony, and by highlighting the temple’s enduring status as a unique monument of modern Jain architecture.