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Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth
only temple where all 5 different traditions can worship at one place, pray at Ashtapad, meet in the Bhojanshala and eat together.
Chapter 7 discusses about Ashtapad- the 10 year story of model making, development of concept, sculpting of mountain from crystal and carving of idols from gemstones. Details about various exhibits, seminars, and research work is given. Religious ceremonies including installation of Ashtapad Mountain and Shri Chovisi is described as well. This is the only Ashtapad Tirth carved from crystal and gemstones that exist. All are welcome to pray and have Darshan of this Tirth till we are able to locate the lost one.
Chapter 8, the last chapter, includes a selected article index with cross reference and their code from Volume I to XX. List of authors whose articles are taken in XX volumes has also been given. Full listing of all XX volume index with cross reference and code is given in DVD which one can refer under Code I. You can also find the listing in Volume XX Ch. 157 Page 8890 to 9100 in the DVD. List of reference books is given at the end of Chapter 8.
Details about each article as it appears in volume I to XX with chapter and page numbers are given at the bottom for ready reference at the beginning of each article. Granth name is printed on upper corners while article name is printed on lower corners of all the pages.
All the above material is presented in over 500 pages in part 1. About one hundred pages are printed on art paper with plenty of pictures and photos about the temple, model making, exhibits, seminars, research and various functions including Pratishtha ceremonies.
The cover page shows Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth as installed at New York and the back page has the building elevation. Inside cover page we have Shri Chovisi and in the back Kailash Mansarovar. Bookmark has Shri Rushabhdev idol, building elevation, and Asthapad image.
The granth has a hard cover and it includes 2 DVDs of all the material collected and compiled into XX volumes. These DVDs are placed in the pockets inside the hard back cover.
We have collected many articles from scriptures and various other sources. We have tried to give original reference from where the article was collected. This will give the authenticity to the article. Some articles are presented as a whole while in some articles only a part is selected which relates to Ashtapad. This was done to avoid other than Ashtapad material. We have tried to clarify this in the beginning of each article. Hope the reader and the writer will excuse us for this.
Regarding the language of this granth it is multi-lingual. We have articles in Prakrut, Sanskrit, Ardh-Magadhi and Shorshaini. Also we have articles in Hindi, English and Gujarati. All the original articles have been presented in their own languages as to maintain their authenticity and with translation if necessary.
A word about the part II which will follow soon: It will contain research related material on Ashtapad, field trips to Kailash Mansarovar region, satellite imaging, discussion seminars and related articles. A small summary of Tibetan history and Bon Po, an indigenous religion of Tibet, is also given. The research work done previously and at present is being put together along with analytical review. A proposal for further research is also suggested.
