Shatrunjaya
Interesting facts
- In 2014, after a hunger strike by about 200 Jain monks, Palitana became widely described as the world's first vegetarian city, with meat, fish and eggs banned from sale.
- The hill holds 863 temples, of which 108 are large, spread across nine walled clusters on twin summits.
- The summit stands about 603 metres above sea level, with the temples some 2 km south of Palitana town.
- In 1656 the Mughal prince Murad Bakhsh granted the hill to the Jain merchant Shantidas Jhaveri of Ahmedabad.
- The Anandji Kalyanji Trust, which still manages the temples, has been responsible for the site since the 18th century.
- A medieval Jain text, the Shatrunjaya Mahatmya, gives the hill 108 different names.
- More than 400,000 pilgrims climbed to the temples in 2010 alone.
- Elderly or infirm pilgrims can be carried up the long stairway in dolis, chairs borne on poles by porters.
- An image of Pundarika on the hill bears an inscription dated to 1120 CE.
Why it is worth it
Shatrunjaya is a hill covered in temples. On the summit and ridges above the town of Palitana in Gujarat stand almost 900 Jain shrines, from tiny niches to large temples with carved spires, packed so closely that from a distance the crest looks like a city of carved stone. Pilgrims reach them by climbing around 3,500 stone steps up the hillside, and at the top the temples are gathered within walled enclosures, each a world of courtyards, pillared halls and images of the Tirthankaras, the spiritual teachers of Jainism.
For Jains this is one of the holiest places on Earth. Tradition holds that Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, came to the hill, and that his disciple Pundarika attained liberation on the hill, which was therefore once called Pundarikgiri. According to Jain belief, 23 of the 24 Tirthankaras sanctified the hill with their visits, all except Neminatha. The hill is regarded as a dwelling of the divine rather than of people, and no one, not even the priests, stays on the summit overnight. Each year on the full moon of the month of Kartik, a great pilgrimage on foot draws devotees to the hills.
The temples have been built, destroyed and rebuilt over nearly a thousand years. The principal shrine, dedicated to Adinatha, another name for Rishabhanatha, was renovated in 1157 by Vagabhata. In the early fourteenth century the hill was sacked by the army of Alauddin Khalji, and Jain texts record that a merchant named Samara restored the temples soon afterwards; further major restoration was carried out in the sixteenth century under Karmashah. Most of the buildings seen today date from the sixteenth century onward and are built in the Maru-Gurjara style of western India, with ornate carved towers and pillared halls. They are grouped into clusters known as tuks, many named after the merchant families who funded them; the Chaumukh temple, with images facing the four directions, was built in 1616. On the summit there is also the shrine of Angar Pir, the tomb of a Muslim figure, which local tradition connects with a legend about an attack on the Adinatha image.
Getting there
Shatrunjaya rises directly above Palitana in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat; the town centre is about 7 km from the main temples. The nearest airport is Bhavnagar (BHU), about 51 km away in a straight line.
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From the encyclopaedia
Shatrunjaya, also spelled Shetrunjaya and originally known as Pundarikgiri, is a range of hills located near the city of Palitana in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India. The hills are situated on the banks of the Shetrunji River at an elevation of approximately 164 feet (50 m) above sea level. These hills bear similarities to other locations where Jain temples have been constructed, including those in Bihar, Gwalior, Mount Abu, and Girnar.
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