heritage/humcha.jpg · 1200×800Tradition tells of Jinadatta Raya, a Jain prince who left Mathura carrying an image of the yakshi Padmavati, and who was told in a dream to settle where he found a particular tree and tank. He founded Pombuchchapura — today's Humcha or Hombuja — in about the 7th century, and from it the Santara dynasty ruled parts of Malenadu for close to a thousand years, patronising Jain temples, monks and learning throughout.
The Panchakuta Basadi of 1077, built by Chattaladevi, is the finest of the old buildings here: five linked sanctums under a single roof, in the Chalukya manner, originally named Urvitilaka Jinalaya in its inscription. Around it are about ten temples of Badami Chalukya and later styles, three small monolithic Bahubali figures of twelve, ten and seven feet, and an ornamented manastambha some forty feet tall.
Humcha is not only a ruin field. The matha founded here in the Kundakunda lineage is still active, its Bhattaraka carrying the title Devendrakirti, and the Parshwa-Padmavati Basadi draws pilgrims from across India and abroad — it is the best known of all Padmavati shrines. The white marble Parshvanatha and the Padmavati beside him are the images most people come for, and a steady stream of devotees keeps the shrine busy through the year.
