Madhya Pradesh: Samagra Jain members urge Center to declare Parasnath Hill a sacred place in Badnawar

Badnawar (Madhya Pradesh): Samagra Jain community members from Badnawar have demanded the government to declare Tirthadhiraj Tirtha Shri Sammed Shikharji, in Jharkhand, a holy place. A delegation of the community handed over a memorandum to sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Virendra Katare addressed to the President and the Prime Minister here on Sunday. The delegation said that instead of declaring Tirthadhiraj Tirtha Shri Sammed Shikharji, the symbol of the highest faith of Jain society, as a tourist destination, the entire area should be declared a sacred place.

It was said in the memorandum that the holy place is situated on Parasnath mountain in Giridih district of Jharkhand where 20 Jain Tirthankaras had attained salvation. The land has been the sacred penance place of Jain sages. The Central government has declared it as a tourist place and because of which consumption of alcohol and meat and other activities not in concurrence with the Jain religion values will increase and thus hurt the religious sentiments of the community members and destroy the sanctity of the place, the community members said in their memorandum .

Before giving the memorandum, Mahendra Sundecha, a senior member of the community while addressing, said that the Jain society had bought this sacred place from the British during an auction. “Declaring it as a tourist destination would violate its sanctity. Respecting the sentiments of Jain society, it should be kept as it is,” he said.

Earlier, the community members reached the SDM residence in the form of a vehicle rally.