Devotees rub dust off 500 derasars, literally

The deserted and neglected derasars of the city sparkled on Sunday when a bunch of volunteers set out on their cleaning campaign. On Sunday morning, Jain devotees were surprised to find a group of young people cleaning derasars.

Around 18,000 volunteers cleaned around 27,000 Jain idols and more than 500 derasars (Jinalays) in a single day. The initiative was organised by Jinagya Yuva Group.

Elaborating on it, president of Jinagya Yuva Group, Mayank Shah said: “We’ve cleaned more than 500 derasars, majority of which are in Paldi, Vasna and in walled city. Many of the older derasars are in deserted and neglected condition. Hence, it was important for us to clean them.”

While the cleaning of derasars involved dusting and washing, the Jain idols were refurbished in a different manner.

“To remove stains from the idols, we used a special powder made of amla, shikakai and vadi, mixed it with curd and applied a layer to the idols. The layer was removed after it dried,” added Shah.

Sadhvi Maitri Ratna Shriji, the brain behind the initiative, was also present at the derasars guiding the volunteers. She later congratulated them for accomplishing such a huge task.

Expressing their happiness, many volunteers said: “We feel a step closer to Lord now.”

As per Jain scriptures, derasar cleaning is considered an important duty for all Jain devotees and is said to purify one’s soul.

Of the 500-odd derasars that were cleaned, around 120 are close to 400 years old. Among the large derasars, 120 are more than 100 years old, while the rest are 50-60 years old.
Also, there are 350 large derasars and around 150 small ones in residential areas.

It can be recalled that last year the same group cleaned 111 derasars. Close to 12,000 idols in the city were cleaned by 10,000 Jain devotees.