Shatrunjaya Dispute

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

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have all been built from time to time and kept in repairs by the Jain community.
MOGHUL EMPEROR'S SANADS.
The rights which the Jain community acquired on the Hill have been recognised, confirmed, and guaranteed by the Moghul Emperors from time to time by the issue of special Sanads or Imperial grants. The first of such sanads was granted in 1592 A.D. by the great Akbar to Hir Vijay Sury, the highest religious dignitary of the Jains, at the time. In that grant, the Great Mogul recognises the ownership and possession of the Jains of their five holy hills, among them being Shatrunjaya Gujarat was then part of the Moghul Empire, and the Paragana of Palitana was situated within the Sirkar of Sorath, a dependency of the Subah of Ahmedabad. The next, in order, is Emperor Jehangir, the son and successor of Akbar, who in the third year of his reign, gave a further Sanad, enjoining all not to obstruct the Jains in their enjoyment and worship of the Shatrunjaya Hill. In the second year of his son and successor, Shah Jehan, (A.D. 1629), Murad Bax, the Vicegerent of the Emperor in Gujarat, granted a Sanad reciting that the village of Palitana, was granted as an Inam to Shantidas, a Jain jeweller. This was further confirmed in the 31st year of the reign of Shah Jehan (1658 A.D.)