Shikhar BandShri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir (?r? Digambar Jain L?l Mandir) is the oldest and best-known Jain temple in Delhi, India. It is directly across from the Red Fort in the historical Chandni Chowk area.The temple is known for an avian veterinary hospital, called the Jain Birds Hospital, in a second building behind the main temple.[1][2]Located just opposite the massive Red Fort at the intersection of Netaji Subhas Marg and Chandni Chowk, Digambar Jain Temple is the oldest Jain temple in the capital. According to Jain scholar Balbhadra Jain's compendium of Digambar Jain shrines in India, it was built in 1656.Old Delhi was founded by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1628–1658) who built what is commonly known as the old city or walled city, surrounded by a wall, with the main street Chandni Chowk in front of the Red Fort, the imperial residence. Shah Jahan invited several Agrawal Jain merchants[4] to come and settle in the city and granted them some land south of the Chandani Chowk around Dariba Gali.According to Jain scholar Balbhadra Jain's compendium of Digambar Jain shrines in India, the temple was constructed during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Balbhadra Jain states that a Jain officer of the Mughal army is said to have kept a tirthankara statue in his tent for personal worship. The tent gradually started attracting other Jain army officers, and subsequently, a Jain temple was constructed at the site in 1656. At that time, the temple was also known as "Urdu temple" (because it was located in an area called "Urdu Bazaar") and "Lashkari Mandir" (laskhar means an army camp). Balbhadra Jain also mentions that there are several legends about the temple. One such legend claims that Shah Jahan's successor Aurangzeb once ordered a ban on all musical instruments in the temple. However, miraculously, sounds of drums (nagadas) would be heard emanating from the temple despite inspections from the Mughal officers. Aurganzeb himself visited the temple to see the miracle, and finally, lifted the ban.[3]The present-day temple buildings were constructed after the fall of the Mughal Empire, and date from 1878.[5]Balbhadra Jain states that one of the idols in the temple dates back to 1491, and was originally installed by Bhattaraka Jinachandra. The Agrawal Jain community acquired three marble idols installed by Jivaraj Papriwal under the supervision of Bhattaraka Jinachandra in Samvat 1548 (1491 AD) for the temple. The main icon is that of Tirthankara Parshva. It is said that the deities in temple were originally kept in a tent belonging to an Agrawal Jain officer of the Mughal army.Other nearby temples include the Gauri Shankar temple and the Naya Mandir. The Gauri Shankar temple was built next to the Lal Mandir in 1761 by Appa Gangadhara, a Maratha Brahman in the service of the Scindia when Delhi was under their influence. It also has been significantly rebuilt in the past few decades. In 1800-1807, Raja Harsukh Rai, the imperial treasurer obtained imperial permission to build a temple with a shikhara in the Agrawal Jain neighborhood of Dharamapura, just south of Chandani Chauk. Thus temple, known for fine carvings, is now known as the Naya Mandir "New Temple"