heritage/mangi-tungi.jpg · 1200×800Mangi and Tungi are two rock pinnacles above the village of Tahrabad in Nashik district, 1,324 and 1,331 metres high, joined by a saddle of stone. Jain texts name this a siddhakshetra: Rama, Hanuman, Sugriva and ninety-nine crore monks are said to have attained liberation here. In Jain tradition Rama — called Padma — ends his life as an ascetic, a telling that differs from the familiar Hindu one.
About ten caves open on Mangi and four on Tungi. Their walls are carved with Tirthankaras seated in padmasana and standing in kayotsarga, along with yakshas, yakshis and attendant figures, and the caves are named for Mahavira, Rishabhanatha, Shantinatha, Parshvanatha and others. The oldest inscriptions recorded here date to 595 CE, so pilgrims have been climbing this hill for at least fourteen centuries.
In 1996 a foundation was laid for a colossal image on the rock face below the pinnacles, inspired by the Digambara nun Aryika Gyanmati Mataji. Twenty years of carving produced a standing Rishabhadeva 108 feet tall — about 113 feet with its pedestal — consecrated in February 2016 and listed by Guinness World Records as the tallest Jain idol in the world. Pilgrims call it the Statue of Ahimsa.
