Girnar

Girnar carries about ten thousand steps, three religions, and a live case in the Gujarat High Court.

The rock at the foot

A boulder near the base carries fourteen of Ashoka's major rock edicts, cut around 250 BCE, among the earliest deciphered writing in India, in Prakrit, addressing the king's subjects on non-violence, welfare and religious tolerance.

The same rock carries later inscriptions: a Sanskrit inscription of Rudradaman from about 150 CE, recording repairs to a dam, and a Skandagupta inscription from the fifth century.

One boulder, three imperial dynasties, roughly seven hundred years, in three stages of the language. It is one of the most important epigraphic objects in India, and it sits at the bottom of the hill that everyone climbs past.

The Jain temples

Jains hold that Neminatha, the twenty-second Tirthankara, attained omniscience and liberation on Girnar, making it second only to Sammed Shikharji.

The black granite temple built for him in 1128 is the principal one among sixteen on the first summit.

Unlike Palitana, Girnar is genuinely shared between Digambaras and Svetambaras, both maintaining temples on it. The site's reputation would suggest that is where the friction lies. It is not.

The Hindu shrines above

The higher peaks carry Shaiva and Nath shrines: to Dattatreya, and to Gorakhnath, whose peak is the highest point.

Girnar is a major site of the Nath sampradaya and of ascetic gathering, and the Bhavnath fair at the foot draws large numbers of sadhus and naga ascetics.

So the mountain is climbed by Jains and by Hindus, who pass each other on the same steps, and the shrines are stacked vertically by tradition.

The dispute

The contest at Girnar is between Jains and Hindus, not between the two Jain orders.

Jain organisations contend that an image of Dattatreya was installed in 2004 near footprints they hold sacred, without authority, and that Hindu construction has encroached on ground they claim.

Petitions have been before the Gujarat High Court since, concerning construction and installation on the peaks and who may authorise either.

The ropeway

A ropeway opened in 2020, carrying visitors most of the way up and greatly increasing traffic on a mountain whose ascent had previously filtered the crowds by effort.

Its effect on an already contested site is one of the things the litigation is about.

Girnar's pilgrimage path runs to nearly ten thousand steps, and different religions have claimed different points along the same climb.

A long climb, several destinations

Reaching Girnar's various shrines involves a stone stairway commonly cited at close to ten thousand steps, with clusters of Jain temples situated partway up the mountain and a Hindu shrine to Dattatreya, an ascetic deity, near the very summit, meaning pilgrims of different traditions may stop at different points along the identical physical path rather than sharing a single destination.

Neminatha's mountain

In Jain tradition, Girnar is specifically associated with Neminatha, the twenty-second Tirthankara, said to have achieved renunciation and eventually liberation in connection with this mountain, giving Girnar its own distinct place within Jain sacred geography alongside, but separate from, Shatrunjaya's association with Adinatha and Sammed Shikharji's association with the larger group of Tirthankaras.

As this entry's companion article covers

The specific dispute over authority and access at the mountain's summit, along with the Ashokan edict inscribed near its base, is addressed in this entry's companion article; this entry instead sets out the mountain's layered religious geography and the practicalities of the climb itself.