Gajpantha

A small hill outside Nashik counted a siddhakshetra, reached by a stair cut into rock shaped, tradition says, like an elephant.

Tradition holds this the place where seven Balabhadras — Vijay, Achal, Sudharma, Suprabh, Nandi, Nandimitra and Sudarshan, figures from the Jain telling of the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics — attained liberation, bringing salvation with them to eight crore Yadava kings and a great many monks besides. The scale of the claim is itself part of what marks Gajpantha as a siddhakshetra rather than an ordinary shrine.

The hill is climbed by some 450 steps and holds three rock-cut caves, known locally as the Chamar Leni, alongside its standing temples — Digambara throughout, and repaired at least once under Mysore royal patronage in an era the temple’s own record puts in the ninth century of the Vikram era.

Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.