Religion and Culture of the Jains

SR No.: 002009
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 258
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 170

156
RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
It was also a great Jaina centre. Here lived the pious merchant Sudarsana who was one of the ideal lay devotees of Mahāvīra, and ultimately got liberation in this city where a monument to his memory still exists in the Gulzarbagh. There are also several modern Jaina temples in this city.
Taxilā: (near Peshawar in Pakistan) is associated with Bāhubalin the famous ascetic son of the first Tirthankara.
Khandagiri-Udayagiri: (twin hills near Bhubaneshvar in Orissa), graced by the nirvāņa of many saints, and possess rockcut cave temples, ancient images, inscriptions and other antiquities, particularly associated with Mahā-megha-vāhana Khāravela, a great empror and a pious Jaina of the second century B.C.
Sonāgiri or Šramaņācala: a hill near Datia in Madhya Pradesh, is studded with some eighty Jaina temples and shrines, and is a siddha-kşetra.
The holy hills, Dronagiri, Resandīgiri alias Naināgiri, Muktāgiri, Siddha-vara-kūta, Pāwāgira and Cūlagiri (Badawānī) are also situated in Madhya Pradesh and are likewise siddhakşetras from each of which numerous saints are believed to have attained nirvana in the past. The siddha-kşetras lying in the state of Gujarat are Tarangā and Pāwāgarh (both near Baroda) and Satruñjaya (in Saurashtra). The last-named hill possesses numerous beautiful temples, as also does the adjacent town of Pālītānā. It is by far the most favourite resort of the temple worshipping section of the Svetāmbara sect. The Gajapanthā hills (near Nasik), Mangi-Tungi (near Manmad) and Kunthalagiri (in Sholapur district) are the Siddha-kşetras situated in the state of Maharashtra. Of the atiśaya-kşetras, the most remarkable is Śravanabelgola (in district Hassan of Mysore State), named after the big white tank associated with the Śramaņas (Jaina ascetics). Near the