________________
Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth - II
The site located by me with the help of aerial photograph, (commercially available in poster form at Kathmandu), trekking map and satellite data, is known as Dharma King Norsang. The name also indicates the place of Shiva or Aadinath or Rushabhdev as it indicates Dharma King means King of religion and Norsang means like a lion in human beings. Thus place name also indicates the place of Ashtapad that of Aadinath or Rushabhdev or Shiva. There is a trench surrounding this Ashtapad Site, which also supports my assumption. One can refer fig. 3 & 36 which are taken from vol. IV part I pg. 1170. This figure shows that Dharma King Norsang is part of Mount Kailash. It remains covered with snow, hence name Dhavalgiri. This matches with probable site and supports the belief that Kailash itself described as Dhavalgiri in literature is Ashtapad. Thus there is no stand for the other nine claimants anymore as Ashtapad. The site located using satellite data, the Dharma King Norsang seems most appropriate for the site of Ashtapad Mountain or Ashtapad Maha Tirth. The measurement of Ashtapad temple is one yojan in length, two kosh in width and three kosh in height. (Vol. II pg. 526) Whereas according to Munishri Panyas Nandi Ghosh Vijayji Maharaj the temple or chaitya is two gau in width and four gau in length, and the height is three gau. These measurements are that of beginning of the fourth Aara. Thus the width may be 200 feet and length may be 400 feet. (Vol. X pg. 4506 and personal communication). There is more work to be done in this direction in the future.
11 siva Med-14 14:11
તત્ર સુશ્રાવક
al. 20-6-os લિ. પંન્યાસ નંદીઘોષવિજયગણિનાં ધર્મલાભ અષ્ટાપદ ઉપરના દેરાસરમાં માપ – લંબાઈ – ચાર ગાઉં, પહોળાઈ - બે ગાઉ અથવા ચાર ગાઉ હોઈ શકે. જો દેરાસર ચોરસ હોય તો ઊંચાઈ – ત્રણ ગાઉ, પહોળાઈ - ચાર ગાઉ હોય અને લંબાઈ – બે ગાઉ હોઈ શકે. શું સેટેલાઈટ ઇમેજમાં આવું દેખાય છે? તેવા ફોટો હોય તો મોકલશો અને ભગવાનની પ્રતિમા મૂર્તિ દેખાય છે કે નહીં? તે પણ જણાવશો.
Anand Bhairav Giri travelled from Gyangdrag monastery to Serlung Gompa and from Serlung Gompa to the base of Kailash where 13 Drigung Kagyu is there. From the base he travelled to the higher snow covered area which matches with the site of Dharma King Norsang. (Ref. Fig. 2 & 4). I found the description from volume X pg. 4393 that Ashtapad Tirth is east of Meru Mountain. There were idols of Lord Adishwar and Ajitnath. We can find description in vol. V pg. 2196 that Ashtapad Mountain is covered with snow and is white known as Dhavalgiri. One can reach at Ashtapad by walking from Darchen, after crossing 10 to 20 hills. We also received a letter from Apna Bharat which also shows that Ashtapad was to the east of Kailash and supports my hypothesis. The place is yet to be confirmed on ground. A detailed study is to be carried out using Geographic Information System and other satellite data. Comparison of the measurement of the temple found from the satellite image and measurement found from literature or Jain Acharyas will be carried out in future with the help of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation and Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis.
Field Trip I & II to locate site for... —
