Shri Sammed Shikharji

Getting there

• By air

  Deoghar Airport is the nearest airport, 107 km away, about a 3-hour drive.

• By train

  Parasnath Station in Isri Bazar is the nearest railway station, about 25 km from Madhuban at the base of the hill.

• By road

  The site lies on NH-2, the Delhi-Kolkata highway, in the Grand Trunk road section.

Why devotees come here

Shri Sammed Shikharji is a Jain pilgrimage on Parasnath hill in Giridih district, Jharkhand. Jains believe twenty of the twenty-four tirthankaras attained moksha, liberation from rebirth, here. The hill rises to 4,480 feet, the highest mountain in Jharkhand.

Jains call the hill Sammed Shikhar, the peak of concentration. Legend holds that twenty tirthankaras reached liberation here through meditation, along with many monks. The Santhals call the hill Marang Buru, the hill of the deity.

Parshvanatha, the twenty-third tirthankara, is traditionally held to have attained moksha here in 772 BCE. In 1583 Emperor Akbar issued a firman placing the management of the hill with the Jain community. In 1918 the Anandji Kalyanji trust bought the site from its landlord. Two merchants, Seth Badridas Mukeem of the Johari Seth Jain community of Kolkata and Bahadur Singh Dugar of Murshidabad, made the purchase on the trust's behalf. The present temple structure was rebuilt by Jagat Seth Mahtabchand in 1768 CE. In January 2023 the central government halted tourism development on Parasnath Hills.

The hill has 31 tonks, hilltop shrines that each enshrine the footprints of a tirthankara, in black or white marble. The Parshvanatha tonk on the summit has two floors. At the base of the hill, a large Digambara temple depicts Nandishwar Dweep. The Nichli temple, built by a Calcutta merchant in the 18th century, is noted for its architecture.

Festivals

• Every yearSammed Shikhar festival

  An annual fair that draws a large number of devotees.

• Full moon of Baisakh, mid AprilSanthal hunting festival

  The Santhals hold a hunting festival on the hill.

Tips for your visit

• The stretch from the Gandharva Nala stream to the summit is the most sacred to Jains.
• The climb is made on foot, or by litter or doli carried by a doliwallah, along a concrete paved track.
• Madhuban, at the base of the hill, has many dharamshalas and bhojnalayas for pilgrims, which are pilgrim rest houses and food halls.

Questions people ask