Odyssey Online - South Asia

As you start your climb up the hill, you can choose to go by foot — most pilgrims go barefoot — or you can pay money for men to carry you in a seat called a dholi. The only way up the hill is by foot, so throughout your climb, you will see many local non-Jains and donkeys transporting up the hill pilgrims, water, and marble for future building projects. See if you can find some of these laborers in the painting.

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The path up the hill is marked by small shrines to footprints (Gujarati: pagala) of deceased teachers or monks or nuns who have gained liberation. These footprints can represent an enlightened soul who has left its physical body.

In the painting, a monk with a polka-dot robe worships at one of these shrines. We know he is a monk because he carries a broom that is used to sweep away insects so that he does not harm them with his movements. Today, after reforms of the late nineteenth century, Shvetambara Jain monks only wear plain white robes, as seen in the photo, but in the early nineteenth century, different lineages had different styles of robes. See if you can find in the painting monks wearing orange robes, polka-dot robes, and white robes.

Footprints of Mahavira, the 24th tirthankara, with a unique image of Mahavira in the posture in which he attained omniscience. From the Shri Pujya Tonk.

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About halfway up the climb, stop and worship the goddess Hinglaj. This will ensure that your pilgrimage is successful. Hinglaj is a form of the Jain goddess Ambika, who is a protector deity of Nemi, the twenty-second tirthankara, or enlightened founder of Jainism. Unlike liberated souls like the tirthankaras who serve merely as inspiration, and cannot engage with humans, unliberated gods and goddesses like Hinglaj can aid pilgrims in achieving health, wealth, and overall well-being. According to tradition, Ambika defeated a demon named Hingul who was harassing Jain pilgrims, and upon his death, she took a version of his name.

In the painting, she is represented by a trident — an image associated with the Hindu god Shiva. This may be because there are popular Shaiva goddesses named Hinglaj, but this goddess is seen as a protector of Jains.

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The five figures here, standing with their arms at their sides in the kayotsarga, or the "abandoning the body" meditative pose, represent a shrine to five black marble icons of Jain monks who achieved liberation at this site by fasting to death. Jains believe that with every action one performs, karma attaches to one's soul, ensuring that the soul will reincarnate. Therefore, the ideal death involves stopping all actions, including eating. The two icons on the left are the hero of the Indian epic the Ramayana, Rama, and his brother, Bharata, who came here at the end of their lives along with 30 million monks. The icon in the middle represents Thavachcha Putra, who heard the teachings about Jainism from the twenty-second tirthankara, Nemi, renounced the world, and came to Shatrunjaya at the end of his life with 1,000 disciples. The icons on the right represent Shailaka and Shukraraja, who both converted to Jainism after hearing the teachings of Thavachcha Putra and each fasted to death at Shatrunjaya with 1,000 disciples of their own.

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You have made it to the main temple complex at the top of the northern summit! Enter through the "Tigress Gate" (Gujarati: vaghan pol), named for the tigress who guards it, seen in the painting and in the lower right corner of the beginning of the video. In the painting, the blue and tan men flanking the gate are guardian deities. Today, as seen in the video, the gate is protected by the guardian deities Hanuman, orange on the right, and the ferocious Bhairava, on the left. This gate is almost 800 years old. It was commissioned in 1232 by Vastupal and Tejpal, two Jain ministers of the Vaghela Dynasty.

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After entering through the Tigress Gate and walking further up the hill, stop to pray at the small shrine to the goddess Chakreshvari, a great devotee and protector of Adinatha, the first tirthankara and the main object of worship here. Chakreshvari, like the goddess Hinglaj, can offer pilgrims health, wealth, and worldly happiness. In the photo, a hand offers her a cloth, hoping this generosity will be returned by the goddess. According to tradition, Chakreshvari assisted a wealthy Jain merchant, Karma Shah, in the renovation of Shatrunjaya in the 16th century. To thank her, Karma Shah commissioned her icon in 1587.

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Walk further up the hill and enter a small room with a marble statue of a man riding a camel. This is the Punya Pap ki Bari — the "Gateway of Virtue and Sin." Attempt to crawl through the tight space between the camel's legs. Only virtuous people — people with more good karma than bad — succeed.

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Enter the courtyard where the main temple to Adinatha is located, at the highest point on the hill. In the painting, the circumambulatory path, or the path around the temple, is bordered by shrines to statues of the twenty-four enlightened founders of Jainism, the tirthankaras, seated with crossed legs in meditation. Walk around the temple three times to represent the three jewels of the path to liberation: right view, right knowledge, and right conduct. As you circumambulate the temple, you will fold your hands, sing praises, pray, and perhaps offer flowers at a few important shrines and temples, beginning with the Sahasrakuta, a massive slab of marble with carvings of 1,024 tirthankaras: the number of enlightened teachers of Jainism who are born in all parts of the universe, in the previous, present, and future time periods. This temple was commissioned by wealthy lay Jains from Agra and consecrated in 1661.

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On your third circumambulation around the main temple to Adinatha, stop at the rayan tree where Adinatha, or Rishabha, the first tirthankara, gave a sermon, establishing the teachings of Jainism in this part of the universe, in this time period, trillions of years ago. Rishabha visited Shatrunjaya 99 purva times (a purva is 70,560,000,000,000, so that means he visited here 6,985,440,000,000,000 times). Recite the chaitya vandana, or the Prakrit language praise of Jain temple icons, at his footprints, established under the tree.

In the tree, atop the shrine to the footprints, the painting shows a snake and a peacock, a common motif at Shatrunjaya. Snakes and peacocks are normally enemies, so their living in harmony symbolizes the peace that Jainism provides.

Behind the rayan tree, you can also pray to icons of Adinatha's family members, including his son, Bahubali, seen in the painting with a beard and green vines wrapped around his body. Bahubali, after fighting a war with his brother for his father's kingdom, renounced violence and became a Jain monk, standing in meditation for so long that vines grew up his legs. In the painting, we can see two rare images of Jain nuns, with brooms and in orange robes, praying to Bahubali. We know they are nuns, not monks, because their robes cover their heads. There is at least one other nun in this painting, near the Tigress Gate. See if you can find her.

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You have arrived at the highest point of the climb and the most important temple at Shatrunjaya, the Adishvara Temple. Follow the actions of the worshipers in this painting: Ring the bell when you enter the ground level of the temple, which houses the principal icon, a white marble image of Adinatha, the first tirthankara, seated in meditation with crossed legs, with his symbol, a bull, carved below his feet. Recite the chaitya vandana, or the Prakrit language praise of Jain temple icons. Then climb to the upper level of the temple, which houses a statue of four tirthankara images, facing the four directions. To avoid accidentally inhaling and harming any microorganisms, cover your face before you enter the main sanctum, as the worshipers in the upper level of the temple have done in the painting. This temple was last restored in 1157 by Vagbhata, a minister of the Solanki Dynasty.

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After visiting the main Adinatha temple, you may want to visit the temples on the northern summit, or the enclosure known as known as "Nav Tunk," or "Nine Temple Complexes." Not all pilgrims visit this summit, but in the painting, we can see lay pilgrims, including a man lovingly carrying a baby, enter through the gate that leads to the enclosure. Most of the temples of the Nav Tunk were built from the 1830s onwards, so this map provides a glimpse of what this summit may have looked like before these building projects.

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The main icon of this temple complex, the Chipa Vasi Tunk, is Rishabha, seen here cross-legged in meditation with his symbol, the bull, painted on his pedestal. In the painting, the lay worshiper on the ladder on the left, dressed in his clothes for worship, may be holding a water vessel in his right hand to perform abhisheka, or a ritual bath of the image. This temple complex was built in the 14th century and renovated in 1735.

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The principal image of this temple complex, the Chaumukhji Tunk, is a massive four-faced image of Rishabha, the first tirthankara. This temple was renovated in 1618-19. Behind this temple sits a small temple to the Pandavas, the five heroes of the Indian epic the Mahabharata, who according to Jain narratives achieved liberation here.

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At the very edge of the northern summit, next to the border wall and near the gate to the "Nav Tunk," sits the Angar Shah Pir Dargah, a shrine (dargah) of a Muslim saint (pir) named Angar Shah. The painting shows the custodian (khadim) of the shrine cleaning the grave of the saint with a broom made of peacock feathers. To this day, the custodian, whose family members have been leading rituals at the shrine for generations, will use a peacock feather to clean the grave and then offer blessings to visitors to the shrine with a tap of the peacock feather on their heads. Visitors of different faiths visit the shrine and offer objects to make specific requests. As can be seen in the photo, women who want to conceive a child will offer small cradles. Upon the fulfilment of your request, you should return to the grave to offer a decorative cloth (chadar).

There are various origin stories of this Muslim shrine, an unusual sight at a Jain pilgrimage place. According to the current caretaker (see photo), in the 14th century, the Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji came to Shatrunjaya with his army to steal riches from the temples, but his spiritual advisor, a Sufi saint, stopped his actions by manifesting fire and burning his army. From that day onwards, the saint became a protector of Shatrunjaya and became known as Angar ("fire" in Gujarati). According to narratives relayed in books by Jain monks, Angar Shah was the spiritual advisor of Sher Shah, a Muslim ruler from the 16th century, who had kidnapped a Jain laywoman named Kodai. Inspired by Kodai's worship of Adinatha, Sher Shah travelled to Shatrunjaya with Angar Shah and offered the tirthankara gold coins. Angar Shah, angry at this offering, threw an axe at Adinatha, but bees emerged from the icon, somehow killing Angar Shah, in one version poisoning him and in another version causing him to fall off the cliff and die. Angar Shah's ghost realized the power of Adinatha, begged for forgiveness, and promised to become a protector of the site.

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A cross between a dog and an alligator?

In this painting, fish, pilgrims, and mythical creatures fill the Shetrunji River, which runs alongside the Shatrunjaya Hills. The yellow path on the left side of the painting represents the path down the backside of the hill, behind the temples, that leads to a few temples on the bank of the river. Today, some pilgrims bath with water from the river before they make the trek up the hill. Other pilgrims perform a lamp-waving ceremony (arati) at dusk to honor the river, as seen in the video. According to pilgrims, bathing in and drinking the water from this river can cure illnesses.

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A standing elephant-headed deity?

The temple enclosures at the top of the Shatrunjaya peaks are surrounded by what looks like a fortress wall, with turrets. In the painting, cannons protrude out of the wall, though they no longer remain. Instead, the temples are protected by deities, such as the elephant-headed Parshva Yaksha, who is reminiscent of the Hindu god Ganesha and is a devotee of the twenty-third tirthankara, Parshva.

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A seated person with long hair and blue skin?

The city Palitana, at the base of the Shatrunjaya Hills, is represented in the lower right corner of the painting as a place of religious diversity. The painting depicts a few Jain monasteries, or upashrayas, where monks and nuns reside. Here we can see a laywoman in a red sari vising with a Jain monk in a white robe. Next to this upashraya is a shrine to a Shiva linga, a conical representation of the Hindu god Shiva, honored by Shiva's vehicle, the bull Nandi. This blue man is likely a worshiper of the Hindu god Shiva. His skin is blue because he has rubbed ash on his body to represent his status as a Shaiva ascetic who has rejected worldly norms.

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A crescent moon?

The crescent moon at the top of this painting represents the abode of liberated souls, or the siddha-shila. Jains believe that all living beings have a soul with infinite knowledge, power, and bliss. These qualities of the soul are obscured, however, by karma, a physical substance that attaches to one's soul each time it acts in the world with passions. This karma causes one's soul to reincarnate again and again into this world of suffering. Therefore, the goal of every Jain, and thus every pilgrim to Shatrunjaya, is to rid one's soul of all karma through fasting, worship, and meditation. When this happens, one's pure soul shoots to the top of the universe — the abode of liberated souls — where it will remain forever, in infinite knowledge and bliss.

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Women drawing water from a well?

The city Palitana, at the base of the Shatrunjaya Hills, features a number of food halls for pilgrims, who, as Jains, are strict vegetarians. Fasting is also a key religious act in Jainism, as it burns the karma that reincarnates one's soul. Therefore, many pilgrims take a vow to only eat one time in a day when visiting Palitana. In the painting, women draw water from a well, and a man stirs a large pot of food for pilgrims.

Jain Map of Shatrunjaya

Jain Map of Shatrunjaya