Palitana Jain Temples
Palitana is located in Gujarat, 51 km south west of Bhavnagar Gujarat
This temple is made of white stone that can be seen in Padmasana temple. There are also some beautiful idols of Yudhishthir, Bheem, Arjun and other Bhagwan Parsavanth idol. On the northern gate of the temple there are foot print of Bhagwan Adinath and Bhagwan Sambhavnath. There are 3745 steps to reach the temple. The town has a good road and rail network that connects it to the other cities of Gujarat. Bhavnagar, the nearest airport lies at a distance of 60 kilometer from Palitana. Siddha Kshetra Shri Shatrunjaya Teerth is situated on a hill, which is decorated by 3500 temples. Spires of the temples attract pilgrims from a far distance. Nagarjuna founded Palitana, which derives its name from Guru Padalipta or politta. The chief attraction here is the holy Jain shrine Shatrunjay Hill, 3 km away from the railway station. It is on the Shetrunjaya Mountain at a distance of nearly six kilometers near the city of the bank of the river Shetrunjaya. This mountain has 3800 steps. On it, there are 700 temples with summits. 7000 idols are installed in them. The artistry and sculpture of these temples aptly illustrate the ancient art.
The Digamber Jain temple
The Digamber Jain temple on Shatrunjaya Teerth is an ancient temple, has 9 shrines with various Teerthankaras idols installed. On the main shrine of temple, the magnificent idol of principal deity 1008 Bhagwan Shantinath is installed, this is 42 inch in height; in Padmasana posture made of white stone & was installed in V.S. 1686. According to the inscription on idol, a famous businessman of Ahmedabad installed this.
In this temple, beautiful standing idols of Yudhishthir, Bheem and Arjun are also installed in V.S. 2025, these three Pandavas attained salvation from here. Two another idols of Bhagwan Parshvanath each 24 inch in height in Padmasana posture are installed here, one is called Chintamani Parshvanath and other is called Vighnaharan Parshvanath. Both were installed in V.S. 1734. On the both sides of northern gate of temple foot images of Bhagwan Adinath and Bhagwan Sambhavanath are installed. On the inner shrine with attractive spires, there are three foot images of three Pandavas are also installed.