Shri Bhoyani Tirth, near Kadi, is the tirth of Shri Mallinath Bhagwan, the 19th Tirthankar. The white idol in padmasan, about 104 cm tall, is loved for the gentle, almost feminine grace of its face, fitting the Shwetambar tradition that Mallinath Bhagwan was born a princess. The carved marble temple stands only a few hundred metres from Bhoyani Road railway station.
How the idol was found
By tradition the place was once a town called Padmavati, and broken sculptures and old idols found in the fields and ponds around Bhoyani suggest that many Jain temples once stood here.
In Vikram Samvat 1930, a farmer digging a well heard mysterious sounds from the earth; the sounds stopped when, digging further, the idol of Mallinath Bhagwan was uncovered. The Sangh built a new temple for the idol, and its pratishtha was performed on Maha Sud 10, Vikram Samvat 1943.
The temple today
The temple rises on a broad flight of steps, with a richly carved marble front, corner pavilions and a tall central shikhar, and on festival days the courtyard is hung with bright canopies.
The tirth has a dharamshala and a bhojanshala, and its closeness to the railway station makes it an easy first stop on a yatra through Kadi, Rantej and Becharaji.