heritage/shatrunjaya-palitana.jpg · 1200×800Jain tradition holds that Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, came to this hill and preached here, and that Pundarika Swami, his grandson and chief disciple, attained liberation on its summit with his followers. From this the hill is honoured as a siddhakshetra, a place of liberation, and as the holiest tirtha of the Svetambara Murtipujaka Jains. Pundarika's shrine faces the main temple of Adinatha, and pilgrims bow there first.
The temples have been destroyed and rebuilt many times, and tradition counts sixteen great renovations. Alauddin Khilji's forces damaged the shrines in 1313, and Samara Shah rebuilt them in 1315. The sixteenth renovation was carried out by Karma Shah of Chittor in the 16th century, and most of what stands today dates from that time onward. The temples are gathered into nine walled clusters, or tuks — Motisha, Chaumukhji, Bala Vasahi and others.
Counts differ, but some 865 temples crowd the ridge, with hundreds of smaller shrines and thousands of images. Pilgrims climb about 3,500 stone steps, roughly 3.5 kilometres, usually setting out before sunrise. Nobody stays on the hill after dark, not even the priests, for it is held to belong to the Tirthankaras; pilgrims neither eat nor drink while they are up there. The hill closes for the four months of chaturmas.
