Mangi-Tungi

About

Mangi-Tungi rises as twin pinnacles on a single Sahyadri ridge, with Mangi crowning the western height at 1,324 metres and Tungi the eastern at 1,331 metres. Set near Tahrabad about 125 kilometres from Nashik in Maharashtra, the peak has been venerated for centuries by the Digambara Jain community as a Siddha Kshetra, a gateway through which liberated souls are said to have passed into perfect freedom.

A pilgrim's climb of around 3,500 steps leads to caves dedicated to Tirthankaras such as Mahavira, Rishabhanatha, Shantinatha, and Parshvanatha. Images of the Jinas are carved in padmasana and kayotsarga, joined by figures of Yaksha and Yakshini attendants. Some idols carry dates as early as 595 CE, and a fourteenth-century inscription survives in the Adinath cave.

Tradition holds that Ram, Hanuman, Sugriva, and a vast company of Jain monks attained moksha at Mangi-Tungi, and the Nirvanakand records that ninety-nine crore monks crossed into final liberation here. The Mangi hill carries seven Temples and ten caves, while Tungi bears five Temples and the caves of Chandraprabhu and Rama.

In February 2016 the Statue of Ahimsa, a 108-foot monolithic image of Rishabhanatha, was consecrated after twenty years of work begun in 1996 under the inspiration of Gyanmati Mataji and Chandanamati Mataji. Recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest Jain idol in the world, it now draws pilgrims to the annual Kartik fair.

History

Digambara Jain tradition has venerated these twin peaks, Mangi and Tungi, for centuries as a Siddha Kshetra, a gateway through which liberated souls are said to have passed. Caves and shrines were carved into the rock across many centuries; the oldest dated idol on the hill carries an inscription placing it in 595 CE, and a further inscription of 1343 CE survives in the Adinath cave. In February 2016, after twenty years of work begun in 1996 under the inspiration of the Jain nun Gyanmati Mataji, the Statue of Ahimsa was consecrated on the hillside, a 108-foot monolithic image of Lord Rishabhanatha recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest Jain idol in the world.

Significance

Tradition holds that Ram, Hanuman, Sugriva and a vast company of Jain monks attained moksha at Mangi-Tungi, and the site is honoured across Maharashtra's Jain community as one of the state's foremost pilgrimage destinations. The Statue of Ahimsa now embodies the tradition's central teaching of non-violence in stone, drawing pilgrims from across the world to the hillside where it was carved.

Architecture

Rock-cut Digambara Jain cave shrines across two hill summits, with a modern monolithic colossus carved directly into the cliff face