The hills of Shatrunjay are considered as one of the most holy places for Jain religion following the Swetamber panth. It is believed that most of the Jain tirthankaras of the Jain community attained nirvana here on the shatrunjaya hills.
There are 863 total numbers of Jain temples stepping above 3500 steps to reach there. On the hill top, Shatrunjaya hill is the largest temple complex site of the world. Rishabh, the first Jain tirthankar of Jainism preached his sermon for the first time on this hilltop.
It is one of the most important and renowned tirth of Jain community belief, dedicatedly associated with lord Rishabh also known by the name Sri Adhishwar bhagwan. Located on the hills on banks of the Shatrunjay river one amongst numerous jain temple complexes. The land over which this temple is situated is called Hastisengiri, built in 1979 by the eldest son of lord Rishabh, Bharat Chakravartin who attained nirvana in the same hill temple. The elephant of king Bharat is also said to follow his king during the salvation. The temple has an octagonal shape consisting of jinalayas for the 72 tirthankaras. There is also a felicitated dining arena and dharamshala inside the temple premises.
It's a place where tourists lay their eyes on, the intricate and elaborative marble carvings and intricate architecture of this site is splendid. The enthralling view of the temple's entrance and its ornate carvings transcends other temples present out there. Like other Jain temples, out of 863 temple complexes of Jainism, it's another sightseeing experience in Palitana.
Nonetheless, this is a temple but it's of much more importance being one of the monuments subsiding the knowledge of cosmology, astrology and universe's or spaces' time and its movements. Reflection of the ancient Vedic knowledge is the best part of its structures. Calculations, cosmology of the Jain process to figure out facts and figures such as time, height, weight, width etc at that time is really strange which is shown up through the artistry here. What is the process of life about, from a human birth to his death means, we can study its science in this campus. The concept of Jambudweep temple comes in such a way that it depicts the universe, from sumeru mountain top one can see four different zones. The east and the west directions replicate videh kshetra, towards the south direction you can find Bharat kshetra, and the Himvan mountain range along with several flowing rivers are shown and lastly towards the North you can find airavat kshetra. Two metal trees named with jambu vriksha and shalmali vriksha are another attractive splendour to this temple.
