{"id":32956,"date":"2023-01-04T03:14:19","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T21:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32956"},"modified":"2025-04-19T17:27:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T11:57:04","slug":"jain-community-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/jain-community-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Jain Community Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Where is Sammed Shikharji located?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the significance of Sammed Shikharji?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Where is<\/strong> <strong>Shatrunjaya Hill located?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the Jharkhand issue?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What happened in Gujarat?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Members of <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/cities\/ahmedabad\/jains-conduct-rally-demands-holy-sites-8355460\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>the Jain community have been staging protests<\/u><\/a> in different parts of the country for the past two weeks over demands related to two holy sites:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Sammed Shikhar on Parasnath hill in Jharkhand; and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Shetrunjay hill in Palitana of Gujarat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Where is Sammed Shikharji located?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sammed Shikharji is situated on Parasnath Hills in Giridih district, Jharkhand.\n<ul>\n<li>Parasnath is the highest mountain in the state of Jharkhand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It is <u>the biggest pilgrimage destination for people of Jainism faith<\/u>, for both its sects \u2014 the Digambaras and the Svetambaras.\n<ul>\n<li>Shikharji Temple is perched atop Parasnath Mountain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It is believed that this is the place where 20 of the 24 Jain tirthankaras attained \u201cmoksha\u201d or salvation after meditating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the significance of Sammed Shikharji?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Shikharji along with Ashtapad, Girnar, Dilwara Temples of Mount Abu and Shatrunjaya are known as \u015av\u0113t\u0101mbara Pancha Tirth (five principal pilgrimage shrine).\n<ul>\n<li>Every year, thousands of Jains undertake the 27 km long trek of climbing the hills to see the houses of salvation shrines of 20 Tirthankaras.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The region is also considered holy by the members of the Santhal tribe, who regard it as \u2018<i><strong>Marang Buru\u2019<\/strong><\/i> (hill deity of the Santhal) and hold an annual festival here in mid-April.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Where is<\/strong> <strong>Shatrunjaya Hill located?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the largest and the most sacred temples for the Jain community is the Shatrunjay temple located at the Shatrunjay Hills &#8211; located by the city of Palitana, in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat.<\/li>\n<li>The sacred site contains hundreds of shrines that were sanctified when <i><strong>Rishabha<\/strong><\/i>, the first Tirthankara of Jainism, <u>gave his first sermon in the temple on the hilltop<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>It is said that Adinath (also known as Rishabha), the founder of Jainism, meditated beneath the rayan tree at the summit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Palitana temples on Shatrunjaya Hill were built over a period of 900 years starting from the 11th century.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It was <u>Kumarpal Solanki, a great Jain patron<\/u>, who built the first temples on this site.<\/li>\n<li>The temple is particularly crowded on the holy day of Kartik Purnima, which falls sometime around November-December.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary related to Jain Protests<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Members of Jain community are protesting in masses in various parts of the country over demands related to two Jain holy sites:\n<ul>\n<li>Sammed Shikhar on Parasnath hill in Jharkhand and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Shetrunjay hill in Palitana of Gujarat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the Jharkhand issue?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In February 2019, the Jharkhand government notified the Parasnath area, in Giridih district, as a \u2018tourist spot\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>In August 2019, the Union environment ministry declared the hill an eco-sensitive zone and added that the area had tremendous potential to support thriving eco-tourism.<\/li>\n<li>Members of Jain community contend that neither the Centre nor the state consulted them while declaring the hill an eco-sensitive zone and a tourist spot.<\/li>\n<li>They are opposing these moves on following grounds:\n<ul>\n<li>The decision to convert the site into a tourist spot will impact the sanctity of the site as a person coming here as a tourist will be looking for fun.\n<ul>\n<li>Various tourist promoting activities such as selling of meat, alcohol etc. in the region will hurt the religious sentiments of the community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Declaring the hill as an eco-sensitive zone is also a problem, as locals will be given employment through poultry farms etc., which Jains don\u2019t want at their holy site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What happened in Gujarat?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In Gujarat, the Jain community took out a rally seeking action against anti-social elements allegedly desecrating the sacred Shetrunjaya Hills.<\/li>\n<li>CCTV TV footage emerged of miscreants vandalising the steps and pole of a temple in Palitana, Shatrunjaya Hills.<\/li>\n<li>The Jains are demanding that Shetrunjay hill and the area around it be protected so as to maintain its holiness. They also want further probe in the vandalism case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)<\/strong><strong>\u00a0What are the famous Jain pilgrimages in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Shikharji along with Ashtapad, Girnar, Dilwara Temples of Mount Abu and Shatrunjaya are known as \u015av\u0113t\u0101mbara Pancha Tirth (five principal pilgrimage shrine).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong><strong>\u00a0What are the three jewels of Jainism?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In Jainism the three jewels (also referred to as ratnatraya) are understood as samyagdarshana (\u201cright faith\u201d), samyagjnana (\u201cright knowledge\u201d), and samyakcharitra (\u201cright conduct\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/jain-community-protests-issues-linked-to-jharkhand-gujarat-shrines-8358963\/#:~:text=In%20Jharkhand%2C%20the%20issue%20is,shrine%20and%20related%20security%20concerns.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Jain community protests: What are the issues linked to Jharkhand, Gujarat shrines<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 <strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/explainers\/why-is-the-jain-community-protesting-across-the-country-11911232.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Why is the Jain community protesting across the country?<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 <strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/cities\/ranchi-news\/sammed-shikharji-why-is-jain-shrine-in-jharkhand-in-the-eye-of-storm-101672676568475.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Sammed Shikharji<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 <strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gujarattourism.com\/saurashtra\/bhavnagar\/palitana-and-shatrunjaya-hill.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Gujrat Tourism<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jain Community stage protests over demands related to two holy sites &#8211; Sammed Shikhar and Shetrunjay hill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}