Bihar, commonly known for its disturbed political-social-economic environment is blessed with many Jain-Buddhist Pilgrimage centers. Known as "
Vihar"
(originally meant "a secluded place in which to walk", and referred to "dwellings" or "refuges" used by wandering monks during the rainy season. ) in earlier times, now has been called as "Bihar". Bihar has been blessed by ,
Sri Mahavir Swami,
(the 24th Tirthankar of Jainism ) 2500 years ago. Mahavir Swami Bhagwan's Samavasaran had been created at 5 hills in Rajgruhi (now known as
Rajgir) &
Pawapuri {where Sri Mahavir Swami Bhagwan also attained '
Moksh' ('
Nirvana')}.
After many missed opportunities , on 30th April (
2010) i got a chance to visit these famed lands, but only for 1 and half day
(which is not even enough for touring Rajgir alone!!).
On 30th we left Kolkata (
Howrah Stn) at 8:35PM for
Bakthyarpur (
via Danapur Exp). Bakthyarpur is approx 9hrs away from Kolkata, so we reached there early in the morning at 5:30AM. Our first destination was
Rajgir. Boarding a bus from Bakhtyarpur at 6:00, we reached Rajgir at 8:00AM.
The
Shwatambar Jain Derasar at Rajgir, is a very beautiful temple built with red stone & marble. The Mulnayak is
Sri Munisuvrat Swami Bhagwan (
the 20th Tirthankar) who was born in Rajgir. the basement of the temple houses a
" स्वर्ण मंदिर " (
Golden Temple) which has an exquisite pratimaji (
statue) of Sri Mahavir Swami Bhagwan.
There are
5 hills at Rajgir namely :
1.Vipulachal giri : After ascending 15-20 mins , we came across a Dehri dedicated to Aimutta Muni who attained Kevalgyaan (Omniscience) here .After ascending about 2 km. from there we came across the Vipulgiri 'Tunk'. The Mulnayak here is Sri Munisuvrat Swami. From here we descended nearly 1.5km and
ascended 2 kilometers we come to the
Ratnagiri hill.
2.Ratnagiri hill: The 1277 step climb (2km) in 43-44degrees centigrade is very tough & not for the weaklings. On this hill, there are foot-idols of Neminath, Parshvanath
AbhinandanSwami, Chandraprabha and Shantinath. The Udaygiri Hill :- For climbing
this hill, there are 782 steps.
3.Nearly 4 kilometers away from the Ratnagiri hill is the third hill called Udaigiri hill.
The ascent of this hill is bit difficult.
4.Swarnagiri is the fourth hill here. The ascent distance is nearly 3 kilometers. There
are two caves on the southern part of this hill. 'Jina' images have been carved on the
walls in the caves. There are 1064 steps on this hill. There are foot idols of Bhagawan
Adishvar and Bhagawan Mahavir.
5.Vaibhargiri hill is situated 2 kilometers away from here. There are 531 steps on this
hill. There are five temples in which there are idols and foot-idols of Mahavir Swami,
Munisuvrat Swami, Dhanna Shalibhadra, Gautam Swami and others. The ruins of
ancient temples and the ancient caves on this hill are worth seeing
Other than Rajgiri , there are tirths like
Kundalpur where 2500yr old pratimas of Sri Rushabhdev Bhagwan, Shantinaath bhagwan & Mahavirswami Bhagwan were found. Kundalpur is the birthplace of Gautam Swami(1st disciple of Mahavir Swami).
From Kundalpur,
Pawapuri is closeby, where Mahavir Swami attained Nirvaana. There is the Samavasaran Temple, Nahar Jinalay & the beautiful nirvaan sthal ,
Jal Mandir.
See the Pictures by Clicking on this Link
