Digambar Jain Bada Mandir, Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh India

Hastinapur is regarded as the Tirath Khestra-a great pilgrim centre-by the Jain community. The Digambar Jain Bada Temple is the oldest Jain shrine in the city. As the word, bada, suggests, this is really a very big temple. It is located on a 40 foot high hillock.

The magnificent temple stands on a four feet high plinth and is topped with an artistically built long spire. The alter, with three gates, holds the white colored statue of Bhagwan Shantinath, the main deity of the temple, sitting in Padamasana.

A unique feature of the temple is that it is built like a spiral all though its height. The interior is covered with gold paintings depicting stories from Jain scriptures. It is believed that approximately 7-8 kilograms of gold was spent in embellishing the interiors. The temple compound also houses a library, Vradashram, Jal Mandir, Acharya Vidyanand Museum and Kailash Parvat. It also provides a host of facilities to devotees including accommodation and dinning.