Palitana (Shatrunjaya)
Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India
A hilltop city of hundreds of marble Jain temples on Shatrunjaya hill at Palitana, holiest of Svetambara pilgrimage mountains, where the climb is on foot, no food is carried up, and no one remains on the hill after dark.
The Bhavnagar district administration counts approximately 863 marble-carved temples on Shatrunjaya hill; the main temple, reached by about 3,500 steps, is dedicated to Rishabha (Adinatha), the first tirthankara. The site is holiest for the Svetambara Murtipujaka tradition, and along with Shikharji in Jharkhand it is considered among the holiest pilgrimage places in Jainism. Most temples date from the 11th century onward, clustered in groups called tunks along the ridges, and Wikivoyage reports more than 400,000 Jain pilgrims annually.
The pilgrim code is strict: no food eaten or carried on the way, the descent begun before evening, and no one remaining on the hill at night, including priests. Jain practice holds that even the deities leave the hill at closing. Elderly pilgrims hire doli palanquins for the climb. Non-Jain visitors are welcome to climb under the same rules: no food, leather items left behind, and no lingering after dusk.
Visiting
The temple complex is open roughly 4:00 am to 6:00 pm and closed before dark; it closes during the monsoon months (roughly June to September, between Ashadh Sud 14 and Kartik Sud 15 on the Jain calendar). No entry fee for the climb is reported; doli services are available for a fee. The nearest airport is Bhavnagar, 55 to 65 km away, with good road and rail connections. The Bhavnagar district administration publishes visitor guidance.
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palitana_temples_01.jpg))
Associated traditions & practices
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