Shatrunjaya Hill

Shatrunjaya ("place of victory against inner enemies") originally Pundarikgiri, also spelt Shetrunjaya are hills located by the city of Palitana, in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. They are situated on the banks of the Shetrunji River at an elevation 164 feet (50 m) above sea level. These hills have similarities to other hills where Jain temples have been built in Bihar, Gwalior, Mount Abu and Girnar.

The Jain's sacred site of Shatrunjay contains hundreds of Palitana temples. The hills were sanctified when Lord Rishabha, the first tirthankara of Jainism, gave his first sermon in the temple on the hill top. The ancient history of the hills is also traced to PundarikaSwamy, a chief Ganadhara and grandson of Rishabha, who attained salvation here.

His shrine located opposite to the main Adinath temple, built by his son Bharata, is also worshipped by pilgrims.

There are several alternate spellings, including Śatruñjaya, Satrunjaya, Shetrunja, and Shetrunjo. Shatrunjaya was also known as Pundarikgiri as Pundarik was said to have attained nirvana on this mountain. Alternate names include Siddhakshetra or Siddhanchal as many thirtankaras are stated to have received enlightenment here.

Getting There

The city is well connected with the rail lines to all major cities and towns so people will not face any difficulty in reaching the place smoothly and comfortably.

Bhavnagar is well connected by road to all major cities. Various types of buses like Luxury, volvo buses, tourist buses, private buses and state buses are available. The bus fare is very affordable. Ahmedabad (168 km), Vadodara (196 km), Surat (360 km) and Rajkot (174 km) can easily reached by road.

The nearest airport is Bhavnagar Airport which is located 9 km in North from Bhavnagar Railway Station. Alliance Air and SpiceJet operate schedule flights to Mumbai from this Airport. Auto and taxi facility to town center are available in visitors area in this Airport.

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