About Jain Palitana temple

  The Palitana Jain temple is  Located in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, the stunningly beautiful Temples of Palitana are an important pilgrimage for the Jains.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 temples are believed to have been renovated about sixteen times since then.

  Palitana is arguably the holiest pilgrimage center for all Jains. The first Tirthankar, Adinath, was born here. Its also the most expansive, and the most beautiful, this however is my own personal opinion. Palitana is the base town, and the temple complex is about a six kilometer (5000 steps) trek away on Shatrunjay hill. The complex is believed to house about 3500 Shwetambar Jain temples and one Digamber Jain temple. The temple construction is believed to have started about 900 years ago in the 11th Century AD. They are now maintained by various charitable trusts and personal donations.

  The Adishvara Temple, dated to the 16th century, has an ornamented spire; its main image is that of Rishabha. The Chaumukh temple, built in 1616, has a four-faced Adinatha image deified on a white pedestal, each face turned towards the cardinal directions. Vimal Shah temple is a square structure with towers. Saraswati devi temple, Narsinh Kesharji temple, and the Samavasaran temple, with 108 life-sketches in sculpture, are also notable.

Every Jain believes that a visit to this group of temples is essential as a once in a life time chance to achieve nirvana or salvation. This site on Shatrunjaya hill is considered sacred by Jains and have hundreds of temples. 

 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.