Sammed Shikharji is the highest hill in the Parasnath range in Giridih district, Jharkhand, and the most sacred mountain in the Jain world. Both main traditions hold that twenty of the twenty-four Tirthankaras attained liberation on its crests. The four who did not are Rishabhanatha at Ashtapada, Vasupujya at Champapuri, Neminatha at Girnar and Mahavira at Pavapuri, as this site’s Tirthankara pages describe.
The hill is also called Parasnath Hill, after Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, whose is the highest shrine on it.
Why it is sacred
Each of the twenty has a tonk, a small shrine or footprint marking the place of liberation, and these are spread along the ridge in the order that pilgrims walk them. The hill is called a nirvana bhoomi, a place of liberation, and that is the reason the pilgrimage is made: a person walks where the liberated ones last walked.
The two traditions share the hill. Shvetambara and Digambara communities each manage their own part of the circuit, and their dharamshalas stand at the foot of the hill at Madhuban.
History where scholars agree
The Jain tradition of the hill is old and is recorded in canonical and later literature, although the early texts do not give a map. Later Jain texts name the hill among the sites of liberation, and that tradition is the main evidence of its antiquity. Scholars agree that it was a pilgrimage by the medieval period, that the present temples are the product of later centuries of patronage, and that a number of the shrines were rebuilt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The surviving structures are therefore later than the tradition they commemorate.
The hill has been the subject of recent public discussion about how it is to be managed, and its administration is a matter of law and local government, which this page does not try to summarise because it changes.
How to reach it
- Nearest airport: none is close. Ranchi and Gaya are the airports most often used, each several hours away by road, and Kolkata is a long overland journey.
- Nearest railway station: Parasnath station, on the Grand Chord line, from where Madhuban is a road journey of an hour or so.
- Madhuban, at the foot of the hill, is where pilgrims stay and where the walk begins.
The circuit
The full circuit is made on foot, up one side, along the ridge to the tonks, and down again. It is commonly described as about twenty-seven kilometres in all, and many pilgrims start well before dawn so that the whole round is done in daylight. Some go by palanquin, and the hill has places to rest and drink.
This is a hard walk. People with heart, joint or breathing problems should ask a doctor first, and others should carry water and go slowly. The path is exposed in summer and slippery in the rains.
Etiquette
- Walk the hill barefoot or in the footwear the trust allows, and leave leather outside.
- Eat nothing on the hill. Many pilgrims keep a fast for the day, and food is eaten after the descent and before sunset.
- Be silent or recite the Navkar at the tonks, and do not photograph the images where signs ask you not to.
- The tonks are small. Queue patiently, and let elderly pilgrims go first.
- Both sects’ areas are marked. Follow the rules of the trust whose tonk you are in.
- Take nothing from the hill, and take your rubbish down.
We have not given timings, fees or permit rules: these are set locally and change with the season.
Related
- Tirth guides: eight pilgrim places
- Parshvanatha: the 23rd Tirthankara
- The 24 Tirthankaras
- Pavapuri
- Girnar
Frequently asked questions
↳ Why is Sammed Shikharji so important?
Jain tradition counts twenty of the twenty-four Tirthankaras as liberated there, more than anywhere else, so a single pilgrimage touches the places of twenty liberations.
↳ Is the hill sacred to both Shvetambaras and Digambaras?
Yes. Both traditions revere it and keep their own temples and dharamshalas, and each looks after its own part of the circuit.
↳ How long does the walk take?
It depends on the walker and the season, and can fill most of a day. Many start early. Ask at Madhuban when you arrive, and plan to finish before dark.
↳ Which four Tirthankaras were not liberated here?
Rishabhanatha, Vasupujya, Neminatha and Mahavira, who attained liberation at Ashtapada, Champapuri, Girnar and Pavapuri respectively.