Śikharjī

Śikharjī, also called Sammed Śikhar, rises on Parasnath hill in Jharkhand and is the most exalted Jain pilgrimage place, honoured by the Digambara and Svetambara sects. Its name means the venerable peak of concentration: tradition holds that twenty Tirthankaras attained moksha here, including Parshvanatha, whose liberation is placed in 772 BCE and gives the hill its name.

The site is named as a tirth in the Jnatrdharmakatha. In the thirteenth century Vastupala, minister of the Vaghela kings, built a temple housing twenty Tirthankara images. Akbar entrusted the hill to the Jain community in 1583 and forbade killing animals nearby.

The Jagat Seth bankers became patrons from 1725; Mahtabchand rebuilt the temples in 1768, and in 1825 Kushalchand consecrated the twenty liberation sites. Both sects worship the summit's idols.