Place · Jain pilgrimage hill · India
Sonāgiri
Also known as 77 Digambara temples, Datia, Sonagiri, Sonagiri, Datia
The Jain pilgrimage hill in Datia district, Madhya Pradesh, in the Bundelkhand uplands, carrying around 103 white marble Digambara temples climbing the ridge — believed in local tradition to be the siddhakshetra where many ascetics attained moksha. The oldest temples date to the 9th century and the climb takes two hours up 300 steps. The main deity is Chandraprabhu, the eighth Tirthankara; a 15-foot standing image anchors the summit shrine. Sonagiri was continuously under Chandela patronage from the 10th to 12th centuries; the Digambara Jain community of Madhya Pradesh considers it one of the most sacred regional tirthas.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Digambara Jain tradition
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 25.517, 78.400
Connections (1)
- Companion in the same setSammed Shikharjī / Parasnath
Sonāgiri and Shikharjī are the two Digambara siddhakshetras of the eastern uplands, and both are hills where the claim is liberation rather than a birth or a teaching. Sonāgiri's hundred white shikharas on a bare Bundelkhand rise are the most concentrated visual statement of that claim anywhere. Sonāgiri is a working ascetic centre rather than a mass pilgrimage, and Digambara munis still keep the rains retreat there, which is what the hill was built for.
On these journeys
Sources
Sonagiri Jain temples
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