Palitana Temple, Jain Pilgrimage in India
The Palitana Jain temple is considered to be the most sacred Jain
temple in India. It is located on Shetrunjaya hills in the city of
Palitana in Gujarat. There are altogether 863 Palitana Jain temples made
up of marble. The main temple is situated at a height that can be
reached by traversing about 3500 steps from the foot hills. The main
temple is dedicated to the first Tirthankara, Rishabhanath. The
construction of the temples started in the 11th century and is believed
to have taken around 900 years to complete. In the 14th and the 15th
century these Jain temples were destroyed during the Muslim invasion.
The temples are believed to have been renovated about sixteen times
since then.
Architecture of the Temple
These temples have a unique architectural style. The ornamentation is
such that in sunlight their appear to have been made up of ivory. One
of the temples, Adishwar is considered to be the holiest one among all.
The other temples include Sampriti Raj, Adinath, Kumarpal and Bimal
Shah. The images of the deity are made up of marble and are beautified
by gold ornaments studded with precious stones.
The Jain temple of the Digambars is one of the ancient temples. It
contains nine shrines with a number of idols of the Tirthankaras
encrypted on it. The main temple consists of the idol of Bhagwan
Shantinath. This idol is 42 inch in height and is made up of pure white
marble. In this temple beautiful idols of Bhima, Arjuna and Yudhisthir
have also been also installed.
