heritage/sammed-shikharji.jpg · 1200×800Parasnath hill rises 1,365 metres above the Jharkhand plateau, the highest point in the state, and takes its name from Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, who is believed to have attained nirvana on its summit. Jain tradition holds that twenty of the twenty-four Tirthankaras were liberated here. The four exceptions are Rishabhanatha at Ashtapada, Vasupujya at Champapuri, Neminatha at Girnar and Mahavira at Pavapuri. Both Digambara and Svetambara Jains revere the hill and share its principal shrines.
Pilgrims begin at Madhuban, the village at the foot of the hill, where temples, dharamshalas and the shrine of Bhomiyaji stand. The climb starts in the dark, often around three in the morning, so that the shrines can be reached at first light. There are thirty-one tonks — small domed shrines, each enshrining footprints carved in black or white marble — strung along the ridge, and the full circuit of roughly 27 kilometres is walked barefoot in a single day.
Little is known of the hill's earliest temples; tradition credits kings such as Bimbisara of Magadha with the first shrines, but nothing standing today is that old. In 1918 the site was bought from the local zamindar by Seth Badridas Mukeem and Bahadur Singh Dugar on behalf of the Anandji Kalyanji trust. When the hill was later opened up for tourism development, Jains across India protested, and in 2023 the central government put those plans on hold.
