Kundalpur

The village near Nalanda that the Digambara tradition identifies as the birthplace of Mahavira.

Kundalpur’s Digambara claim rests on more than Mahavira alone: tradition holds this the birthplace of three of his own disciples as well, Gautamswami — his first and foremost — Agnibhuti and Vayubhuti among them, which gives the village a concentration of significance beyond a single figure’s birth.

The ruined Nandyavarta Mahal, a seven-storey palace complex now standing only in fragments, is pointed to as the birthplace itself; a temple nearby holds a four-and-a-half-foot Mahavira image marking the spot, and the wider six-temple complex includes a Trikal Chaubeesi shrine housing seventy-two Tirthankara images — three sets of twenty-four, for the Tirthankaras of the past, present and future cycles together.

Worth knowing

• Not the Kundalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which is a separate and equally important Digambara site. The identification of Mahavira’s birthplace is itself disputed: the Svetambara tradition places it at Kshatriyakund in Vaishali district.

For opening times and access, check the temple's own announcements — they change, and we would rather list nothing than send you to a closed door.

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