Taranga Hills

Taranga Hills are located around 20 km from Vadnagar, on the Aravali range and harbours have the profound connections with Buddhism.

From the banks of the Saraswati, you start on the path that ascends up the Taranga hills. On your way you may see Jain monks striding barefoot. On the peaks above, you sight tiny white chhatris and a little shrine to Devi Taranamata from whom the village derives its name. The idols in the temples of Taranmata and Dharanmata are basically of Buddhist goddess Tara. There are a few images found from here and the broken terracotta images of Buddha, four carved images of Dhyani Buddha on a stone plate, stone and brick walls inside rock shelters are some of them.

As your footsteps ascend upward the Taranga Jain temple, suffused in the fresh air of the hill, welcomes you. This 12th century derasar, is one of the best preserved and least restored temples in Gujarat, and a testament to the devotion and dedication of the Solanki Rajputs. Though a less-frequent stop on the standard tourist trail, it is considered to be one of India’s most treasured works of architecture.

Entering the womb of this magnificent Jain temple, where a five-meter tall sculpture of the 2nd Jain tirthankar, Shri Ajitnath, sits peacefully, may be a portal, for some, into deep unspeakable inner stillness. The teacher, Ajitnath, having transcended action and suffering, transmits an intense and unmoving quiet, beyond the known.

The temple lingers mysteriously in the consciousness of its visitor. The almost absent gaze of the tirthankar inside contrasts with the overflow of fluid sensual movements of dancing maidens, gods and goddesses, lovingly detailed outside in stone. The voluptuous damsels in their intricately carved costumes, as though dancing, both graceful and arousing. In the words of travel writer Philip Ward, “If you thought Jainism would be too intellectual to appeal to you, let this riot of sculptural delights overwhelm you.”