Mangi-Tungi

About

Mangi-Tungi rises as twin pinnacles on a single Sahyadri ridge, with Mangi crowning the western height at 1,324 metres and Tungi the eastern at 1,331 metres. Set near Tahrabad about 125 kilometres from Nashik in Maharashtra, the peak has been venerated for centuries by the Digambara Jain community as a Siddha Kshetra, a gateway through which liberated souls are said to have passed into perfect freedom.

A pilgrim's climb of around 3,500 steps leads to caves dedicated to Tirthankaras such as Mahavira, Rishabhanatha, Shantinatha, and Parshvanatha. Images of the Jinas are carved in padmasana and kayotsarga, joined by figures of Yaksha and Yakshini attendants. Some idols carry dates as early as 595 CE, and a fourteenth-century inscription survives in the Adinath cave.

Tradition holds that Ram, Hanuman, Sugriva, and a vast company of Jain monks attained moksha at Mangi-Tungi, and the Nirvanakand records that ninety-nine crore monks crossed into final liberation here. The Mangi hill carries seven temples and ten caves, while Tungi bears five temples and the caves of Chandraprabhu and Rama.

In February 2016 the Statue of Ahimsa, a 108-foot monolithic image of Rishabhanatha, was consecrated after twenty years of work begun in 1996 under the inspiration of Gyanmati Mataji and Chandanamati Mataji. Recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest Jain idol in the world, it now draws pilgrims to the annual Kartik fair.

Significance

For the Digambara Jain tradition, Mangi-Tungi is a Siddha Kshetra, a place where countless souls are remembered as having attained moksha. The Statue of Ahimsa, raised in 2016, embodies the central Jain principle of non-violence in stone and now stands as a global symbol of Rishabhanatha's teaching.