Siddhachalam

The first Jain tirtha established outside India, on a wooded hillside in New Jersey.

Founded in 1983 by Acharya Sushil Kumar, Siddhachalam was consecrated as a tirtha — a pilgrimage place in its own right rather than a temple serving a local congregation. That claim was contested at the time and is part of why the site is significant.

It sits on former farmland in the Kittatinny hills, and much of it is deliberately left as woodland.

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