Shetrunjay Yatra

Shetrunjay Yatra is an itinerary in Palitana city in Saurashtra region of Gujarat, India. Palitana is known as "the city of temples". It is considered as one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in Swetambara tradition of Jainism. There are more than 800 large temples and small shrines atop the Shetrunjay hill near the city.

Understand
Most of the temples were built in and after the 11th century. The temples are spread mostly in nine clusters along the various ridges of the hill tops; some being vast temple complexes, while most are small in size. These clusters are known as Tunks. The main temple is dedicated to Rishabhanatha/Adinatha, the first Tirthankara of Jainism. These temples are constructed from marble and stones.

More than 400,000 Jain pilgrims visit these temples every year. Every devout Jain aspires to climb to the top of the mountain at least once in their lifetime in efforts to attain karmic liberation, due to its sanctity.

The steps for the trek starts in the southern part of the Palitana city, where there a number of monasteries, rest houses, shops and small temples. The stone-concrete stairs gently wind along the hill, climbing up into the fort and to the summit with temples. Along this climb, are small temples, rest stops with drinking water for the pilgrims and visitors to sit and rest before resuming their trek. Near the fort, the steps fork into two. The eastern side typically is the entrance for a traditional clockwise circumambulation of the temples, while the other the exit. The trek involves climbing along a about 2.5 mile-long hilly trail of about 3745 steps taking one 1800 feet above sea level. Some elderly pilgrims hire palanquin (doli) to be manually carried from the town at the base of the hills to the temples on the hilltop.

Prepare
The code for the pilgrims is stringent, in keeping with the rigours of the Jainism. Food must neither be eaten nor carried on the way. The descent must begin before it is evening, for no one can remain atop the sacred hill during the night.

The religious practice also involves pilgrimage by fasting throughout the journey to and from the shrines. Silence and prayers are the order of the day when one is climbing up the hills on pilgrimage. Fasting continues until they have returned to the auditorium of Anandji Kalyanji Trust at the foothill.

The temples are not visited by the pilgrims during the monsoon season (from Ashadh Sud 14 to Kartik Sud 15 according to local Jain calendar).



Phase-I

 * On the foothill, the group of shrine with the large open portico is known as . The face of the hill is worshiped here by pilgrims. The pilgrims who could not climb the hill worship here and consider it equivalent to the pilgrimage. on the right is dedicated to presiding Yaksha deity of the hill. There are few more shrines here dedicated to Gautamswami, Adinath and Ajitnath.
 * The trek of the hill starts on the right. There are several large temples here. is on the left. It is followed by large temple known as  It was dedicated in Samvat 1949. In a compound next to the temple, there are large  Next to it is the  which built in similar fashion to that in Bihar. The temple is surrounded by a water tank.
 * Climbing few steps, the is a large open compound with the multi-storey temple known as the This modern temple was built at the base of the hills . It has a small museum at the lower level. Near the gate, there is a small footpath leading to  This cave like shrine is dedicated to the Goddess of knowledge.
 * The trek goes from here until the After climbing few more steps, the, the newest of the temples, is reached. This four-sided tower-like temple is dedicated to Adinatha. After few steps, there are  which was installed in Samvat 1685 near the


 * Climbing further, one reaches The kund well was built in Samvat 1681. There is a  near it. After passing by, an another , one can see the  on high platform. The next stop is.


 * After some steep climb, one reaches the Goddess Hinglaj, a form of Goddess Ambika, is worshiped here in a shrine. After climbing few steps of winding trek, there is the  which was installed in Samvat 1835. Next to it is a  From here, old and new trek deviates. The old trek has a Samavasaran shrine with footprints of Mahavira.


 * Next is, a kund well built in Samvat 1870. Nearby is a Near to it is  The shrine has footprints of four Tirthankara names which appears in every half-cycle of time in Jain cosmology. They are Rishabh, Chandranan, Varishen and Vardhman.


 * The temple cluster was built under monk Devendrasuri of Tapagaccha. There are 14 small shrines with footprints and a large central shrine with an idol of Padmavati. There are also idols of Hanuman and Manibhadra in the shrine. A large Kund well with four shrines on its four corners has footprints of Adinath, Parshwanath, Gautamswami and Dharmasuri. There are some trees and shrines too. The town and the rest of the hill is visible from here. There is also a near the gate to the Tunk.
 * Going forward, the trek is simple walk with few steps. On high platform, there are . It has four black idols of Draavid, Varikhilla, Aimutta and Narad Muni who are associated with the stories of Shatrunjaya hill. Large metal music plates are banged here on Kartika Sud 15 in Jain calendar to mark their liberation.
 * After a, one passes by . The next is . Here is a group of on high platform. These shrines are dedicated Ram, Bharat, Thavachcha, Shukparivrajak and Shailkacharya; all people associated with Shetrunjaya hill. Going few steps forward, there are footprints in the , a monk. The next is a  who were grandsons of Adinatha.
 * The next junction on the trek known as from where two treks separate; the right going to Nav Tunk and the left going to the Adinatha Tunk. There is a  on left and a  on right. A  is also here.
 * Going forward on the left, the is a straight walk. There are carved on the face of the hill on the right which can be reached by climbing few steps carved in the hill. Going forward, one reaches the fort of Shatrunjaya temples.

Phase II

 * Entering the first fort gate called, the large open ground appears where pilgrims and palanquin carriers can rest. On right after passing by and , a large watertank called  is seen near which there is a small shrine dedicated to Goddess Kuntasar.
 * Going forward and climbing the few steps, one enters the second gate from where the first temple complex starts. The, pilgrim house and staff houses are located here. Next to is a  and Nanghan Kund tank.
 * Next is third gate with statues of a guardian and a tiger on its sides. There is an inscription of 13th century minister Vastupala on the wall of the gate who had built temples of Neminath and Parshwanath on two sides of this gate. The temples were lost by 15th century and replaced by current temples of  on right and  of Sheth Hirachand Raichand. One can see the series of temples on the both sides of the central way. Shantinath temple is visited by all the pilgrims and is considered one of the chief temples on the hill.
 * Next to Shantinath temple on the left is which has one of the best stone carvings of the all temples of the hill.  is next popular temple which has a statue of a camel where pilgrim passes between its legs to check whether one has made spiritual progress or not. After passing by several temples on the left, the last one is  from about 15th century.
 * On the same trek, on the right hand side, after Keshavji Nayak temple, one passes by and  and reaches  which was built in Samvat 1686 has more than 100 pillars with excellent carvings. It is the highest among temples in Vaghan Pol. There is neem tree nearby where there is a  dedicated to Vir Vikramshi who lost his life fighting a lion which had made the complex inaccessible to pilgrims.
 * Going forward, one reaches next gate which is flanked by two large elephants statues. There is a narrow lane on the left of the gate going behind the Kumarpala temple. It leads to four water tanks including  which has spiritual significance. It is marked by a small niche with a carving of a cock associated with a lore. Other three are Brahmakund, Bhimkund and Ishwarkund.
 * Hathipol gate opens in a . There are gates on the right and left which leads to bathing facilities for male and female pilgrims respectively who bath and wear clean clothes before participating in idol worships here. The worship queues in the main temple are managed by colour-coded tokens which are distributed from an office located here.

Phase III
The main gate leads to Ratanpol. The central and main temple is here which is surrounded many many other temples and shrines. The pilgrims venerate and worship the chief deity Adinath here.

Go next

 * Palitana
 * Bhavnagar