Parasnath, the temple town is the highest hill in the Jharkhand, at an elevation of 4480 ft and 35 km from Giridih town. The Parasnath temple is considered to be the most important and sanctified holy places of Jains. The temple complex is not prejudiced, for it welcomes all the sects of the Jains. It is 9 kms uphill from the base which makes it an 18 kms round trip, with two temple and 24 shrines.
Most of the temples are dedicated to Parsvanath who meditated and attained salvation on Parasnath Hill that looms over Shikharji town. The oldest of the temples in Shikharji is the 300 Years old Bageecha Temple (Garden Temple). The delicately carved stone sculpture of Parasnath points out that the deity was restored to the temple after being sealed in a wall of the nearby Tera Panthi Shrine for many decades. Most of the shrines in Shikharji are spic and span with hordes of pilgrims from all across the globes.
Twenty Jain Tirthankars, out of twenty-four attained salvation in the parasnath hills. These 20 Tirthankars are:
Ajitnath, Sambhavnath, Abhinandan, Sumatinath, Padmprabhu, Suparshwanath, Chandraprabhu, Suvidhinath, Sheetalnath, Shreyansnath, Vimalnath, Anantnath, Dharmnath, Shantinath, Kunthunath, Arnath, Mallinath, Munisuvrat Swami, Naminath, Parsvanath.
Jains believe that ordinarily, all 24 tirthankars attained nirvana at this location.
