Shatrunjaya Dispute

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

Page 5

even then. The old shrines as they went to ruins were restored and new temples were also built. The temples scattered over the Hill and on the road leading upto it have by constant additions become numerous. Sir Kinlock Forbes, one of the greatest authorities on the ancient history of Gujarat, says as follows in the “Rasmala'':
"Shatrunjaya is one of the most sacred shrines of the Jain religion. It is described as the first place of pilgrimage, the bridal hall of those who would marry ever-lasting rest. Like our sacred Iona, it is not destined to be destroyed at the end of the world........ There is hardly a city in India, through its length and breadth from the river of Sind to the sacred Ganges, from the Himalaya's diadem of icepeaks to the throne of his virgin daughter, Rudra's destined bride, that has not supplied at one time or other contribution of wealth to the edifices which crown the hill of Palitana. Street after street, square after square extend these shrines of Jain faith with their stately enclosures, half palace, half fortress, raised in marble magnificence upon the lonely and majestic mountain, and, like the mansion of another world, far removed in upper air from the ordi nary treads of mortals."
These temples and the other properties, including tanks, rest-houses etc., on the Hill