Shri Taranga Tirth

Bhagawan Ajitnath
   
 
Mulnayak: Nearly 275 cms. high, white colored idol of Bhagawan Ajitnath.

Tirth: It is on the Taranga hill. The railway station of Taranga is at a distance of 9 kilometers from this place. From the Taranga hill station, Visnagar is 51 kilometers away and Mehsana is 60 kilometers away Buses and taxis are available here. Digambar and Svetambar Dharmashala are available here.

Art and Architecture: Shri Ajitnath temple      Tirthankar

Historicity:

Digambar Jains settled on this isolated hill with it's three rocky peaks. taranaga is a siddh kshetra. It is said that 3.5 crore muni including Vardutt and sagardutt attained nirvana from this place. The two hillocks named  kotishila and sidhhshila are having   idols of bhagwan Neminath and Bhagwan mallinath of vikram 1292. There are 14 digamabar jain Temple in the foothill. Digamabar jain dharamshala is at the foothills.

    At some time in the twelfth century, Kumarpal, the Solanki  king residing at Patan, who was himself a Svetambar Jaina, selected this site for the erection of an exceptionally beautiful temple in honor of Ajitnath. Under the inspiration and instructions of Kalikalasarvajna Acharyashri Hemchandracharya, this temple was built in the year 1200 of the Vikram era. Of the 108 names of Siddhachal, one name is ‘Tarangir’. For this reason, Taranga is regarded as a peak of Siddhachal. In the center of the main vast square of the length of 230 ft and the breadth 230 ft., this temple is 50 ft. long, 100 ft. broad and 142 ft. high. It has a perimeter of 639 ft. The 27500 cms. high wooden summit of this temple is beautifully carved. It has seven domes. On the right hand side of the temple, there are foot-idols of Bhagawan Ajitnath and of the 20 wondering Bhagawan and on the left hand side, there are a temple of Gaumukhji, the Samavasaran (the open lecture-hall), and the Jambudvip painting. On the outer platform of the main temple, there are idols of Padmavatidevi and Kumarpal Maharaja.

 Some years earlier he had a temple built to Adinath on Mount Shetrunjay near Palitana. Built of light sandstone, the Taranga temple measures 45 meters in length by 30.4 meters in width and reaches up to a majestic height of 30.6 meters. In its plan and design it resembles the Neminath temple on Mount Girnar and the above mentioned Adinath temple on Shetrunjay. The temple on Mount Girnar is lower in height and less ornate, and the Shetrunjay Adinath temple has lost some of its original features in the process of restoring damage caused by Muslim raiders. During the last major renovation works the roofs and the stone carvings on the outer walls were cleared of thick layers of white paint, a praiseworthy undertaking

On the highest elevation of the three-peaked hill there stands a so-called Tonk, a small building in the style of a Muslim grave. Built by Digambar, it houses a marble statue of the nineteenth Tirthankara who the Svetambar believe to have been a woman. To accompany the pujari on his daily morning round up to this picturesque spot is, a vigorous hike that opens beautiful bird's-eye views of the temples below.

   

 

Trust: Shri taranga Digambar Jain Siddhkshetra; post Taranga hill Dist. mehsana. Gujrat

Shri Anandji Kalyanji Svetambar Murtipujak Jain Pedhi, Taranga-hill, Dist Mehsana, Gujarat State, India.