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They are 24 in all and they are of varying sizes, two are extra-large, four are large, eight are medium and ten are small. Each niche has two pillars a Chhajja and a Shikhar. Individual Yaksh and Yakshini are carved at the base of the niche. Chinha (Lanchhan) of each Tirthankar is carved at the base of the idol.
Gemologists and gem stone dealers will wonder at this piece of art work with so many different carved color gemstones at one place. Probably this is a one of the biggest pieces of art work carved from crystal and color gem stones. This all was done by the artisans and craftsmen at Jaipur.
There are many legends associated with Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth, out of which twenty four have been depicted in individual carved units. These carvings depicting various stories related to Ashtapad were developed into separate three dimensional carved units. In which Janma Kalyanak, Varsi Tap Parna, Bharat Chakravarti, Areesa Mahal, Gautam Swami, Tapas Kheer Parna, Nag Kumar and Sagar's sons, Ravan and Bali muni, Ravan and Mandodari Bhakti, Rani Veermati and so on are sculpted beautifully (lively).
Till today there is no witness or evidence which tells us about Ashtapad but the Ashtapad Maha Tirth and Ratna Mandir at New York will inspire future researchers to undertake researches into Jainology, and the crystal gemstones will enkindle devotion in them.
Exhibits and Seminars
Many exhibitions of Ashtapad model and three Chovisi (72 Tirthankar idols) were carried out in many major cities all over the world. These exhibitions were carried out in Mumbai, Surat, New York, Palitana, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, New Jersey, (Jaina Convention), Los Angeles, Jaipur, Antwerp, and so on which created a great interest among people and researchers to know about this Maha Tirth.
On the way - Research
I had been writing occasionally about Shri Ashtapad Tirth in Gujarat Samachar - Akash Ni Aulakh and Parijatna Parisamvad columns. I explained the views of different researchers and scholars about their work and now let us discuss this further.
Jain Center of America Inc., New York was gifted with a replica of Ashtapad Tirth. This center is trying to locate Ashtapad Maha Tirth and Ashtapad Mountain. Three field trips were organized under the banner of JCA to visit and research the Kailash area from 2006 to 2009. The main objectives of these trips were to:
Add depth and breadth to the research already conducted.
Find the location/ existence of Ashtapad as described in scripture. Prove the existence of Ashtapad geographically and archaeologically.
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We get a lot of descriptions from the scriptures about this Tirth. Vividh Tirth Kalpa has Ashtapad Giri Kalpa in it, where description of Ashtapad is given. Similarly Acharya Shri Dharma Ghosh Suri gave a description of this Tirth in Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth Kalpa.
There is a note about the construction of three Stupas by Indra Dev on Ashtapad in relation to
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