Adescription
of the greatness of this tirtha amongst the tirthas,tirtha the supreme,
defies all words; cannot be described in words. This is the tirtha which
is the place of the austerities of so many of the tirthankaras and munis,
the land of Nirvana of many. The pilgrimage of this tirtha is therefore
the endower of merit and destroyer of sins. Twenty of the tirthankaras of
the present twenty-four had taken to practice of austerities and attained
to emancipation here. The mountain known as Sametashikhara is situated at
a
height of 4479 from mean sea level, is also known as Parshvanatha mountain.
According to the traditional belief, Saudharmendra had installed an idol
on each of the spots of the emancipation of the Tirthankaras. It was around
the second century that Acharya Padaliptasuri and then Acharya Shri Bappabhattasuri
came on a pilgrimage to this tirtha by their Vidya by which they could travel
through the sky. In the ninth century of the vikram'a era, Acharya Shri
Pradyumnasuriji came on pilgrimage seven times here and got the work of
renovation completed. History also states that installations took place
here on temples were constructed in V.S. 1345, 1659 and 1670. In V.S. 1649,
the mughal emperor Akbar presented the Sametashikharaa spottoJagadguruShri
Hiravijayasuriji. In V.S. 1805, emperor Ahmedshah presented the title of
"Jagatsheth" to Sheth Mahetabrai of Murshidabad, and then had
presented the Parasanath mountain to him. In the modern days the firm ofAnandaji
Kalyanji purchased it and brought it under the control and administration
ofShri Jain ShvetambarSangha. The last renovation ofthetirthatook place
in V.S. 2012 at the efforts of learned Sadhvi Shri Ranjanashriji and Sadhvi
Shri Suraprabhashriji in the tradition of Acharyashri Sagaranandasuriji.
The temple is situated on a mountain in the midst of natural scenery and
beauty, and, in addition, there are eight temples of the Shvetambara sect,
two Dadawadis and one temple of Bhomiyaji Maharaj. |
