The Palitana temples of Jainism are located on Mount Shatrunjaya, by the city of Palitana, in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. The city of the same name, known previously as Padliptapur, has been nicknamed "City of Temples". Along with Sammet Shikhar, earlier in Bihar state, now of Jharkhand, the two sites are considered the holiest of all pilgrimage places by the Jain community. As the temple-city was built to be an abode for the divine, no one is allowed to stay overnight, including the priests. Every Jain believes that a visit to this group of temples is essential once in a life time to achieve nirvana or salvation.
The Jain's sacred site of Shatrunjay contains hundreds of Palitana temples. There are approximately 863 marble-carved temples on the hills. It is said that 23 Tirthankara (a human being who helps in achieving liberation and enlightenment), except Neminath (a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma), sanctified the hill temples by their visits. The main temple is dedicated to the Rishabha, the first Tirthankara; it is the holiest shrine for the Svetambara Murtipujaka Jain sect who are worshipers of images of gods. The Digambara sect of Jainism has only one temple here.
Read more about Palitana Temples: Etymology, Geography, History, Religious Practices, Architecture and Fittings, Culture
Famous quotes containing the word temples:
“Goddesses never die. They slip in and out of the world’s cities, in and out of our dreams, century after century, answering to different names, dressed differently, perhaps even disguised, perhaps idle and unemployed, their official altars abandoned, their temples feared or simply forgotten.”
—Phyllis Chesler (b. 1941)