Moodabidri Thousand Pillar Jain Temple
The 15th-century Saavira Kambada Basadi ("thousand-pillared temple"), centerpiece of a town so dense with Jain shrines it is called the "Jain Kashi" of the south.
Formally the Chandranatha Basadi, the Saavira Kambada Basadi (literally “thousand-pillared temple”) was built around 1430 CE under the patronage of the Jain Chautar chieftains of Moodabidri and dedicated to the eighth Tirthankara, Chandranatha. No two of its intricately carved granite pillars are said to be identical, and the temple’s soaring monolithic manasthambha (pillar of honor) in front is a Tulunadu landmark in its own right.
Moodabidri as a town is home to some eighteen Jain basadis, a density that has earned it the epithet “Jain Kashi” (the Jain Varanasi) of South India, and it remains an active center of Digambara Jain worship and scholarship, housing a repository of rare Jain manuscripts.
Getting there: The temple is on the edge of Moodabidri’s old town center, a short walk from the Moodabidri Post Office on the main road.
The site itself
Where to get your stamp cancelled
This may not be next to the site itself — some post offices serve several nearby landmarks.
- Post office
- Moodabidri Post Office
- Pincode
- 574227
- Address
- Moodabidri Post Office, Main Road, Moodabidri, Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka
Sources
- Project maintainer transcription of the physical Philately Passport booklet (district/landmark/post office list)
- Moodbidri pincode/post office record — Finkode.com