Book Title: Ashtapad Maha Tirth Part 01
Author(s): Rajnikant Shah, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: USA Jain Center America NY

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Page 33
________________ Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth Simultaneously to the Ashtapad model designing and creation, various colored gemstones were collected and imported from all over the world to carve idols of the 24 Tirthankars. Each idol is made from a single piece of gemstone as found in nature. Each idol is carved precisely as per religious rules and measurements. All stones are certified by the Gemological Lab. For example a few of the precious gemstones used to carve the idols are a midnight blue Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan, a rare deep pink Rhodocrosite from Argentina, and a translucent lavender Amethyst from Brazil. Special thanks to the Mohnot family (Shri Nareshji, Dineshji & Rakeshji). Without their dedication, many of my dreams would not have been accomplished. They have actively managed all the exhibits in India. It was the artisans from Jaipur whose skill and hard work helped to carve each model and idol to perfection. It took 5 years to construct the temple, another 5 years to complete the art work and finally this was the 10 year journey of how a replica of Ashtapad Maha Tirth was installed in the JCA temple at New York. There are five floors in the building, each representing different Jain traditions. To the best of my knowledge this is the only temple in the world that does not have the names of donors in the building. The finished building was handed over to Shri Sangh on Nov. 28th 2004, and Pratishtha was performed in June 2005. It has been five years since the temple has been operational. We recently celebrated the 5th anniversary of all of our 5 traditions at our JCA temple in June of 2010- A unity in diversity. In the last five years, after the JCA temple was inaugurated, I continued to work on Jain art to embellish the building. Over 500 pieces of artwork: Pats, posters, paintings and panels were displayed throughout the building in stairs, lobbies and halls. I often wonder how we accommodated over 500 pieces of art work in such a small space of 65' x 65'. We have talked about one side of story of the construction of the JCA temple and the Ashtapad model. However, the other side of the story was to learn about Ashtapad and locate its whereabouts in the Himalayas. This took us deep into ancient Jain literature. We started collecting literature from scriptures and from various other sources. Padmashri Kumarpal Desai was our driving force. All the collected literature and research work was put together and published in XX different volumes. Now these pages have been examined for a 10% selection, and the upcoming summarized literature will be published as Ashtapad Granth in 2 parts. Part 1 is a collection of historical articles collected from scripture relating to Ashtapad and the development and construction of the Ashtapad Tirth. Part 2 consists of articles on the possible whereabouts of the Ashtapad as written by archaeologists and scholars based on data from research trips to Mt. Kailash. These 2 parts of the granth will become a reference Granth to Ashtapad for generations to come. As per the scriptures, the Ashtapad Tirth is lost (Lupt) in time. It is believed to be situated in the Kailash Mansorovar area. We made 3 research trips to the Kailash Mountain in search of the Ashtapad Maha Tirth. Many scholars, scientists, archeologists, geologists and space satellite experts were involved. To date we have found only some clues but

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