East India · Bihar
Pawapuri, Bihar
Sources: wikimedia
Before you go
Where Mahavira attained nirvana -- one of the holiest Jain tirthas; Diwali here marks that anniversary.
About Pawapuri
- Inland
Where it is
Pawapuri is a village in Nalanda district of Bihar, on the plains of the old Magadha region south-east of Bihar Sharif, about 100 km from Patna.
History
Jain tradition holds that Mahavira, the 24th tirthankara, gave his last sermon and attained nirvana at Pawapuri, and it has been a place of Jain pilgrimage for many centuries. The white marble Jal Mandir, standing in a lotus pond where he is believed to have been cremated, and the Samosharan temple mark these events.
People
Pawapuri's villagers speak Magahi and Hindi and farm the surrounding plains, while Jain pilgrims from across India stay in its dharamshalas. At Diwali, when Jains mark Mahavira's nirvana, lamps are lit and laddoos offered at the temples.
Known for
- The Jal Mandir in its lotus pond
- The Samosharan temple
- The Gaon Mandir
- Diwali and the Mahavira Nirvana festival
Did you know?
Legend says so many devotees took a pinch of earth from Mahavira's cremation site that a pond formed there, now the lotus pond around the Jal Mandir.
Shrines and sites
- Jal Mandir
- Samosharan temple
- Gaon Mandir
Traditions
- Jain
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