We will witness the power of this pious land of tirthankars, GIRNAR, through these short stories every week. Infinite souls have been transformed at this miraculous mountain of Girnar.

There was a beautiful town name Shripur, which was like an ornament for mother nature. Therein lived a Kshatriya named Pruthu. His wife was called Chandramukhi. But just as the white moon has stains, Chandramukhi unfortunately gave birth to a girl named Durgandha, whose body would naturally stink of an obnoxious odor. Pruthu was in search for a compatible match for his daughter, but all his efforts seemed to go in vain as no one could bear the smell Durgandha emitted. After persistently searching for a partner, Durgadha was married to Somdev. Somdev was also highly troubled by continuous odor emitted by Durgandha’s body and once secretly walked out on her in the middle of the night, leaving her alone. Unfortunately, Durgandha was not only ridiculed by her husband but was also rejected and condemned by her parents and relatives.

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Ashokchandra, a kshatriya by caste was a poor man who lived in the small and peaceful town of Champapuri, which was situated in the Bharat Kshetra. He was very unhappy about his impoverished way of life, which was a result of his past lives’ inferior karmas and was frustrated with living in poverty. Thus, he used to go from one town to the other in search of means with which he could become wealthy.

Even a small ray of sunlight illuminates a pitch-dark cloudy sky, similarly, Ashokchandra’s suffering, which was an outcome of his bad karmas built in the past, seemed to disappear as he ran into a Jain monk while traveling. Ashokchandra respectfully bowed down to the Jain monk and asked him for a way to overcome the poverty he was currently in.

By devotionally worshipping the eternally pious mountain Girnar, with utmost amount of faith and admiration, one derives all sorts of materialistic and spiritual wealth and ensures he/she gets a good life in future births, eventually leading him/her to salvation! The worst of the worst sinners can be freed of their sins by assiduously worshipping the unconditionally giving, extremely pious and holy mountain, Girnar. The wonders of Girnar are infinite.

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There was once a wonderful kingdom, Shravasti in Bharatkshetra that was situated in Jambudveep. The realm of Shravasti was ruled by a kind & gifted King Vajrasen. He devoutly worshipped holy Jain Gods and justly protected the interests of the dwellers of Shravasti. He was married to a chaste lady Subhadra. Unlike the parents, their son Prince Bhimsen was very cruel and full of malice. He profusely indulged in the vicious seven addictions.

King Vajrasen was extremely reluctantly on declaring Bhimsen as the Prince of Shravasti, but he was bound by circumstances to do the same. Since then Bhimsen had his greedy eyes on other’s wealth and laid his immoral hands on other women, thus creating many woes for all in the peaceful kingdom. Troubled by the horrors inflicted at the hands of Bhimsen, the citizens pleaded to the King.

Hearing the woes of his beloved citizens, King Vajrasen summoned Prince Bhimsen in private urging him to bring a positive change in self. But it was like pouring water over ducks as Prince Bhimsen only kept sinking deeper by increasingly inflicting his hatred and malice on others. Tired of seeing this, King Vajrasen imprisoned his own son. Misguided by his ill-advising companions, the Prince murdered his own parents, thus becoming the King. King Bhimsen drowned himself in the evil vices and deliberately harassed the citizens of the Shravasti.

Weary of seeing all the wrongdoing of Bhimsen, the royal advisors, ministers and family members started discussing a solution to dethrone the unfit King & bring an end to all of this. They made a plan, held Bhimsen captive and left him in a deep forest, thus dethroning him. Jaysen, the younger brother was then elected to take over the throne. An astute, prudent and citizen-beloved Jaysen soon saw his coronation as King Jaysen.

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In the south of Bharatshetra was a state called Karnatak ruled grandly by illustrious King Chakrapani. His wife was queen Priyangumanjari. Time passed by in the lap of luxury and eventually she gave birth to a baby girl. Though healthy in all ways, with all limbs in proportion, the baby was born with a monkey’s face due to some past lives’ sins. The King was shocked by this incident and suspecting some inauspicious events, performed many rituals to pacify many demi-gods and goddesses. With an ugly face but a beautiful destiny, the baby Princess was named Saubhaagyamanjari. She grew up to be well versed in all the 64 skills of a lady.

Once, when Saubhaagyamanjari was sitting on the King’s lap, in palace court, a foreigner entered singing praises of the mountain shrine, Shri Pundarikgiri and the greatness of the pious mountain Girnar, the holy shrine that has saved many from the miseries of world. He said, “Dear King, hail Girnar, the pious mountain shrine, which is the land of accumulation of virtues and destruction of pain and poverty. The pious mountain Girnar, is instrumental in healing the ill; leading to the welfare of many people and relieving one of all fears. The pious steeples, rivers, streams and trees of this mountain provide happiness to all beings. The celestial beings that come to worship Lord Neminath consider the many comforts of heaven to be a speck compared to the bliss experienced here.” Listening to the description of the pious mountain Girnar, Princess Saubhaagyamanjari attained jati-smaran gyaan (the knowledge which helps one recall the previous births) and fell unconscious.

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Raivatachal (Girnar mountain) was like a jewel of Saurashtra region. To its southern side was a city that was compassionately and lawfully protected and was inhabited by many rich people who were prosperous like Kuber, the God of wealth. Hence, the city was aptly named Kuber. It was full of beautiful and unmatched bloomed lotus gardens, which would unfailingly make the lotus-like eyes of a viewer blossom. There was a strong and heighted fort unconquerable by enemies. There were temples which would destroy all the sins and each of these temples housed magnificent idols of Tirthankaras. People of Kuber town were greatly devoted to these Tirthankars and owing to the good merits acquired due to this devotion, they were gaining and enjoying all wealth related pleasures.

This land was ruled the noble King of Yadav Dynasty named Krishna. Owing to his Yash Naam Karma (a type of Karma that brings fame), he enjoyed fame that could be matched only by Indra – the king of celestial beings. Just like a brave lion capable of decimating an elephant of the highest order, his prowess in defeating enemies was unparalleled.

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There was a pleasant and peaceful village called Sugram on the glorious land of Bharat Kshetra. There lived a brahmin who performed various types of yajnas. Several other brahmins also performed various yajnas but this brahmin was renowned for performing the gomedh yajna and thus was called Gomedh Brahmin. Various animals were sacrificed in order to perform a yajna. People blindly believed that it would spiritually benefit them on conducting such butchery yajnas. Gomedh Brahmin was a means in the killing of many innocent animals for the purpose of this yajna.He built a lot of bad karma, as a result of which his wife and sons passed away.

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It was an auspicious dawn that winter. The Jain monk, respected Acharya Shantisuri maharaj saheb on his way to Tharapadpur had reached a village on foot. Due to entreaties from the village householders, a sermon was arranged. During the sermon, a celestial being named Nagini started dancing. Acharya saheb put some scented sandal dust hallowed by holy incantations (vasakshep) on her in order to make her sit at an appropriate place. She settled down thereafter. Thus whenever this celestial goddess used to start dancing, Acharya saheb used to put the sanctified sandal dust on her to make her move from the inappropriate to appropriate seating place.

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A series of historical events have unfolded on the gracious land of Girnar, making it glorious for withstanding numerous storms of arguments and controversies. With the passage of time, there have been pages after pages in History, documenting many instances of dissention on the ownership of Girnar.

Documented in letters of gold in the history of Jainism, this is one such instance of five sons of trader Dhar, who sacrificed their lives for the cause of devotion to this shrine.

As he watched the holy land that had turned into a battlefield and the five bloodied dead bodies of his brave sons, trader Dhar’s deepest desire was still unfulfilled. As he took the steps backwards to his home, he was actually determining to leap forward. Despite having sacrificed five sons at the altar of Jainism, trader Dhar was still not at peace. Every passing day further sharpened his pangs to ensure Shwetambar ownership of Girnar.

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The eighth Vasudev ruled on the land of Bharat Kshetra, spreading till the end of the Lakshman Ocean. On the banks of a river lived a sage named Vashishta, who resorted to various types of false penances and gave trouble to his body without the right understanding or correct faith in religion. He was well versed with chanting sacred hymns, performing rituals, reciting the Vedas and was gifted with many other skills. Unfortunately, all this knowledge was accompanied with a malicious vision and wrong faith. Nevertheless, he managed to draw large crowds that respected and honored him as they were blinded by ignorance. The ascetic lived in a small hut and spent his life eating roots, rhizomes, and fruits and drinking the pure water of the rivers.

One day, the dense growth of grass and grains in the compound around his hut attracted a pregnant deer who came by to graze. Being cruel and angry by nature, Vashishta quietly crept up behind the grazing dear and attacked her with a stick. The repeated blows injured it and the baby deer that was in the earlier stages of growth. He continued hitting them grievously causing the mother and the baby deer to die due to the intense pain and bleeding.

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In the glorious country of Gurjar (Gujarat), King Veerdhaval ruled the state of Dholka. Aashraj, a minister in the court of King Veerdhaval, was a follower of Jain religion. He lived with his family in the village of Sunhalak. His wife was Kumardevi and together they had three sons and seven daughters. Amongst his children, due to the pious deeds in their previous lives, Vastupal and Tejpal had built righteous merit which was instrumental in bestowing on them great intelligence and virtues, right from childhood. Such was their love for each other and their unwavering faith in the religion set forth by the Lord, that they became a cause of envy for everyone.

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Many saints, leaders of pilgrim groups and noble men from faraway lands used to visit the beautiful soil of Sorath in order to pay their obeisance to this land, made supremely pious due to the renunciation, enlightenment and/or salvation of infinite Tirthankar lords. Being here afforded them the luxury of experiencing bliss and peace like never before. Learned men of the past have said that a pilgrimage is instrumental in destruction of all karmas, it effectuates the pilgrim’s birth and enables the achievement of Tirthankar naam karma.

Thus understanding such remarkable and astounding result of pilgrimage, minister Pethad who was a great philanthropist, a renowned beneficiary of the ability to convert matter to gold (suvarna siddhi), was a beloved of his teachers and a stalwart of the earth, along with many members of the Jain community embarked on a pilgrimage to the pious shrines of Siddhachal and Raivatachal, the two jewels of Sorath. With great enthusiasm he admired the mountain shrine where innumerable Jain monks attained salvation. He worshipped Lord Adinath perched above the Siddhachal peak. He carried out other rituals with reverent devotion and embellished the temple of the first Lord of this era, Lord Adinath with 25 ghadis^2 of gold.

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Many groups have tried to stake their claim to the ownership of the great shrine of Girnar. This is one such instance describing the martyrs of that time, who sacrificed their lives for the cause of devotion to this shrine.

There lived a follower of Jain religion named Dhar in the village of Dhamanuli. As a result of his pious deeds in previous lives, he had built righteous merit which was instrumental in bestowing on him copious amount of wealth in his current life. Once, trader Dhar went on a pilgrimage to the great shrine of Girnar along with his five sons and members of the Jain community in order to utilize his wealth in religious and charitable activities. En route, they carried out several charitable activities that enhanced the glory of Jain religion. They arrived at the foothills of Mount Girnar and set up their tents at the base.

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