Famous Pilgrimage to Sametshikhar for Jains in India

Jains are one of the main communities in India. Jains are very religious people and firmly believe in Lord Mahavir Swami. There are many places of pilgrimage for the Jains in India. However, the most important place of pilgrimage for Jains is Sametshikhar that is situated in the State of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand State is newly formed in India from the old State of Bihar. This Sametshikhar tirth is also known as Parasnath Mountain. This place is the death (Nirvana) place of 20 Jain Tirthankars out of total 24 Tirthankars. That is why it is considred the most important place of pilgrimage for all Jains.

Sametshikhar can be easily reached by direct train from Ahmadabad in around 32 hours. You need to get down at Parasnath station. The base camp for Sametshikhar is known as Madhuvan, which is only around 25 miles away from Parasnath railway station. There are lots of hotels to stay at Madhuvan, which also provide good quality Jain vegetarian food items at very nominal rates. The Parasnath Mountain is around 4500 feet high.

All the pilgrims are supposed to take one full round of this mountain on feet, total distance of around 18 miles, in one day. The yatra starts at the dawn, even before the sunrise and has to be completed before the sunset on the same day. The yatra starts by the darshnas of lord Bhomia at the base of the mountain. The pilgrims reach Gandharvnala and Shitalnala within first 2 miles of walk. The pilgrims can take some rest here prior to proceeding further. The total parikrama of the mountain Parasnath from this point consists of three main stages.

The first phase covers yatra in East direction that covers Navtuk. It starts from Guru Gautama Swami tuk. The tuks of Kunthu, Neminath, Aar, Malli, Shreyans, and Suvidhinath comes next on the way. The pilgrims have to proceed with the darshanas at all these tuks. Finally, the first phase of the pilgrimage ends at the tuk of Munisuvrat Swami. The second phase is slightly difficult as the route passes through the mountains and finally reaches to the tuk of Shree Chandraprabhu.