Shatrunjaya Temple City
Palitana (Shatrunjaya), Gujarat
A range of hills above Palitana carrying 865 Jain temples — not one temple with outbuildings but a city of them, built up along the ridge over centuries. Jain tradition holds the site was sanctified when Rishabha, the first Tirthankara, preached from the summit, and that Pundarik Swami, his grandson and chief Ganadhara, attained moksha here. It is among the holiest places in Jainism. Getting up means roughly 3,500 steps and there is no ropeway; pilgrims start before dawn, and nobody stays on the hill overnight, priests included.
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