| Temples & Legends Of Bihar |
|
 |
| Temples & Legends Of
India |
|
|
|
PARASNATH |
|
|
| The Jains are
remarkable in one respect-they have raised most beautiful temples at various inaccessible
places. They have notspared any efforts or money in order that the emblems of their faith
may stand. Intensely attached to the doctrine of Ahimsa (harmlessness), one part of the
Jains has engaged them in business and has spent money like water to propagate their faith
through temples, libraries and pilgrimages. The other class of the Jains, who are
dedicated or Sadhus, have denied themselves almost every physical comfort and move from
place to place holding discourses and spreading the message of Jainism. It is no wonder
that Parasnath Hill, which is so very important to the Jains, should have quite a few
temples, the Most important of which is known as Jala Mandir.
Parasnath Hill attracts pilgrims in there thousands from distant parts of India. The
hill is also called Samet Sikhar but is more popular as Parasnath, having derived the name
from Parsvanath, the 23rd Tirthan- kara who attained Nirvana there. The present temple is
not very old, although the idol in the main temple is obviously ancient. The Sanskrit
inscriptions at the foot of the images indicate that they were put in the temple in 1678
A.D. |
[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ] |
|
|
|
