Place · Digambara Jain hill temples · India
Muktagiri, Betul
Also known as Betul, Digambara siddhakshetra, Muktagiri
The Muktagiri Jain siddhakshetra at Muktagiri village in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, 40 kilometres from Betul — one of the three major Digambara Jain siddhakshetras of central India. The temple complex contains 52 Jain temples spread across a steep Satpura hillside beside a 100-foot waterfall. The site is identified as the place where 3.5 crore (35 million) Jain ascetics are said to have attained moksha. The temple's foundation is traditional 8-century; most of the current structures are 15-19th century. The main Mahavira temple is at the hill's summit, reached by a 1-kilometre climb. The adjacent waterfall is considered sacred and used for pre-darshan ritual bathing. The annual Shivaratri festival each February draws over 50,000 Jain pilgrims. The Muktagiri Digambar Jain Siddhakshetra Trust manages the complex.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 21.450, 77.750
Connections (1)
- Companion in the same setKunthalgiri, Osmanabad
Kunthalgiri in the Balaghat range and Muktāgiri in the Satpuras are Deccan Digambara siddhakshetras, and both are places where the tradition records deaths rather than lives — arihants at one, and at Kunthalgiri the public sallekhanā of Ācharya Śāntisāgara, who revived the muni order, in 1955. Sallekhanā, the ritual fast to death, is performed in public and recorded; the Rajasthan High Court declared it illegal in 2015 and the Supreme Court stayed the ruling within weeks.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Betul”. Jain tīrtha guides and the Digambara and Śvetāmbara temple trusts’ own records.
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