Palitana

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Palitana , a city and former princely state, located 50 km South-West of Bhavnagar city in India's state Gujarat, is a major pilgrimage centre for Jains.

City

The Palitana temples, are considered the most sacred pilgrimage place (tirtha) by the Jain community. There are a total of 1250 temples located on the Shetrunjaya hills, exquisitely carved in marble. The main temple on top of the hill, is dedicated to 1st tirthankar lord Adinath (Rishabdeva).

No one is allowed to sleep overnight including the priest, because the temple city has been built as an abode for the Gods. The town is considered by many Jains to be more important than the temple covered hills of Jharkhand, Mt Abu and Girnar. Palitana was the capital of a princely state of the Gohil Rajput clan. It is also one of the greatest tourist attractions in Gujarat for foreign tourists.

There are hundreds of other temples (besides those on the Shetrunjaya hills) and guest houses (dharmashalas) in Palitana city. It is believed that every Jain should visit Palitana at least once in his lifetime to get "Bhavya" status (fit to attain nirvan or salvation).

Aerial View

Getting there

By Air

Bhavnagar, the nearest airport lies at a distance of 51 kilometer from Palitana, but it is only connected to Mumbai. For people coming from other places, a more convenient airport would be Ahmedabad which has an international airport or Vadodara a.k.a Baroda as it is connected through regular flights to many important cities of the country like Mumbai and Delhi.

By Rail: Palitana is a small railway station and has connection only with Bhavnagar.
By Road: There are busses for Bhavnagar from Palitana. Regular buses are also available from Ahmedabad, Talaja, Una, and Diu. Taxis are also available on hire for Palitana from Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad or Vadodra. The bus stand is situated 800 meters away from the Palitana railway station

History- Former princely state

As a "Second Class" princely state, founded in 1194 (one of the major states in Saurashtra, where there were many smaller states), Palitana covered 777 km² and had 58,000 inhabitants (in 1921) in 91 villages, generating a 744,416 Rs revenue.

It was ruled by a Thakore sahib (also spelled Thakur Saheb), enjoying a 9-guns salute, of the Hindu Gohil dynasty, which received a privy purse of 180,000 Rupees at the state's accession to independent India on 15th February 1948.

Sources, References & External links

Jain temples and tirthas | Cities and towns in Gujarat

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Palitana".

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