Shatrunjaya Dispute

Author(s): Makanji J Mehta
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference Mumbai

Page 4

SACRED HILLS OF SHATRUNJAYA
JAINS AND PALITANA DURBAR.
--* (BY M. J. MEHTA, BAR-AT-LAW.)
Shri Shatrunjaya in Palitana, Kathiawar, is an ancient place of pilgrimage of the Jains, whose temples and places of worship have existed there, historians tell us, since as early as the fifth century of the Christian era. Among all the religious places sacred to Jains the hill and temples of Shatrunjaya are the holiest. Thousands upon thousands of pilgrims resort every year to this our "Holy of Holies" to offer the devotion of their heart, to testify the worship of their life. Centuries before the present ruling family of Palitana was invited to take up the task of watch and ward over the pilgrims visiting the shrines on the hill, the shrines as well as the pilgrims had been there. According to Col. Todd, the historian of Rajputana, in the year 421 of the Christian era, the shrine of 'Adinath (the principal deity on the hill) was renovated, which necessarily implies that the original structure must have been centuries older
visiting the prodd