Jain temple
the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism

A Jain temple, Derasar (Gujarati: દેરાસર) or Basadi (Kannada: ಬಸದಿ), is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings generally reflect the prevailing style of the place and time they were built.
Jain temple architecture is generally close to Hindu temple architecture, and in ancient times Buddhist architecture. Normally the same builders and carvers worked for all religions, and regional and periodic styles are generally similar. For over 1,000 years, the basic layout of a Hindu or most Jain temples has consisted of a small garbhagriha or sanctuary for the main murti or idol, over which the high superstructure rises, then one or more larger mandapa halls.
Māru-Gurjara architecture or the "Solanki style", is a particular temple style from Gujarat and Rajasthan (both regions with a strong Jain presence) that originated in both Hindu and Jain temples around the year 1000, but became enduringly popular with Jain patrons. It has remained in use, in somewhat modified form, to the present day, indeed also becoming popular again for some Hindu temples in the 20th century. The style is seen in the groups of pilgrimage temples at Dilwara on Mount Abu, Taranga, Girnar, Kundalpur, Sonagiri, Muktagiri and Palitana.
Terms
There are many different terms used for Jain temples. Those originating from early scriptures, like the Agamas, were often ambiguous.
The public source identifies “Jain temple” as the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jain, temple and place.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2613100. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jain temple” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.