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to attain Siddha status. So this place is considered to be the most pious among all. There are five main Tirth where all twenty-four Tirthankars attained salvation as per following verse from scripture given below.
अष्टापदे श्री आदि जिनवर, वीर पावापुरी वलं, वासुपूज्य चंपानयर सिद्या, नेम रैवत गिरि वरूं । सम्मेत शिखरे वीस जिनवर मुक्ति पहुंच्या मुनिवरूँ,
चउवीस जिनवर नित्य वंदु सयल संघ सुखकरूं ॥ Aadinath Bhagwan attained Nirvana at Ashtapad, Mahavir Swami at Pavapuri, Vasupujya Swami at Champapuri and Neminath Bhagwan attained Nirvana at Girnar. The other twenty Tirthankars attained Nirvana at Sametshikhar. I always bow with reverence to all the twenty four Tirthankars, which brings eternal happiness to all. Thousands of years ago the first Tirthankar Bhagwan Rushabhdev attained Nirvana at Ashtapad. It is believed that it is somewhere among the snow-clad Himalayan peaks. Tirthankar Bhagwan Rushabhdev was the first to establish social code of governance and symbolized the importance of renunciation and penance, and attained Nirvana (final emancipation) at Ashtapad Mountain. Once after attaining absolute knowledge, Shri Rushabhdev Bhagwan was delivering a sermon while seated in Samavasaran. Out of curiosity, King Bharat asked if any human being present here would become a Tirthankar in future. He replied affirmatively and said that his son Marichi will become the 24th Tirthankar after many life cycles and will be known as Mahavir. He subsequently explained the upcoming Chovisi (24 Tirthankars). This is how King Bharat came to know the details about the present Chovisi. After his Nirvan, his son Bharat Chakravarti constructed a gemstone- studded palace in his memory on the Ashtapad Mountain. Twenty four idols of Jain Tirthankars were installed in it. It is believed that there are eight steps in the mountain to climb to reach the temple, hence it is known as Ashtapad. The Tirth is also referred to by such names as Ratnamay, Rajatadri, Sfatikachal in the scriptures. The question arises- Where is Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth today? Let us examine what scripture says and modern scholars and researchers think. Collection of Literature on Ashtapad Curiosity to learn about Ashtapad led us to study in depth the Jain and other scriptures - looking into ancient as well as present day material. The task of collecting material from scriptures and from various other sources started. All the collected literature was put together and published in XX volumes. All the material was collected from reliable sources. This was collected from old scriptures, books, travellers descriptions, researchers notes and from many other different sources. This was a Herculean task of collecting all the available literature on Ashtapad. It took nearly 10 years and many people helped in the process. On the other side details about Kailash and Mansarovar, Ashtapad and its geographic and geologic information were also collected. All the research related material including geoscientific studies were put together. Information about modern scientific research tools as well as satellite studies were also put together.
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