Jain Temple - Sulthan Bathery, Wayanad - Timings, History, Best Time to Visit

At a distance of 24 km from Kalpetta & 1 km from Sulthan Bathery Bus Station, Jain Temple is an ancient temple located in the heart of Sulthan Bathery town in Wayanad district. This is one of the most important amongst a series of ruins spread across Kerala that testify to a period of a strong Jain presence in this region and also one of the best heritage places to visit in Wayanad.

The Jain Temple at Sultan Bathery is believed to have been built in 13th century AD. The temple has an interesting history. It first served as a shrine, and then became an important center of commercial activity. Later in 18th century, it became a dumping ground of ammunitions by Tipu Sultan.

The town of Sulthan Bathery was earlier known as Ganapathi Vattam and had 12 traditional Jain streets in and around the town. After Tipu's vandalism, the temple was deserted for about 150 years. Later the Archaeological Survey of India took over the maintenance and declared it a monument of national importance. The courtyard is well laid with lawns and ornamental plants now.

The architecture of the temple has strong influences of the then Vijayanagar architectural style. It was built with large granite pillars that are extensively carved. The temple is mostly plain from outside with few nice carvings in the inner section. There is a detached pillared mandapa on the front side of the temple without roof which is known as Namaskara mandapa. The main structure has a mukhamandapa followed by mahamandapa and the sanctum.

The sanctum has few small statues of Jain Tirthankaras, but the main seat of the sanctum is empty and no poojas are performed here. The doorways of sanctum and mahamandapa have sacred Jain figures. The lower portion of the doorway has beautiful floral motifs. The pillars have various designs such as sarpabandha, floral designs, Thirthankara, Goose, etc. The main deity's idol is currently in the Ananthanath Temple at Kalpetta. Once a year during Mahavir Jayanthi, the idol is brought here. The temple festival falls on that day. The temple is open to the Jains for worship during the festival.

Timings: 8 AM to 6 PM

Entry: Free