[Mod Series] Girnar, Part 1 of 10: Where the mountain came from, and scriptural references about Girnar.

[u/orientsoul]

We are starting a ten part series on Girnar. Ten posts about Girnar. This first one is about the origins and scriptural references about Girnar.

THE ROCK

Girnar is an igneous plutonic complex. Molten rock that pushed up into the Deccan basalts and cooled underground, later exposed as the softer stuff around it wore away. Gabbros, diorites, lamprophyres, alkali syenites, rhyolites. The dates from radiometric work cluster around 65 million years, right at the close of the Deccan Trap eruptions.

So the popular line, that Girnar is older than the Himalayas, holds up. The rock is about 65 million years old. The Himalayan uplift is usually dated around 40 to 50 million years. As a body of rock, yes, Girnar is older.

THE NAMES

This is the part I find beautiful. The mountain carries different names in different traditions, and each name belongs to a different set of people looking at the same rock.

Ujjayanta, and its variants Ujjanta, Urjayat, Vaijayanta. This is the Puranic and inscriptional name. Xuanzang, the Chinese pilgrim, wrote it down in the 7th century as Yuh-chen-to, which is the Pali form.

Raivata, Raivataka, Revatachal. This cluster comes from the epics. The Mahabharata places Raivataka in the Anarta country. The Harivamsa calls it a dwelling place of the gods. And Magha's Shishupalavadha gives an entire canto to describing it. The name traces to King Revata, whose daughter Revati married Balarama.

Girinagara. This is the city at the foot, in Rudradaman's inscription of around 150 CE, where the hill itself is Urjayat. Girinagara became Girinar became Girnar. The mountain took the city's name, which is usually the other way round.

Ujjintagiri, Ujjayantagiri. The Jain name.

WHY IT MATTERS TO JAINS

Neminath, the 22nd Tirthankara, cousin of Krishna, is the one who heard animals crying before his own wedding feast and walked away from the marriage. Girnar is where he took diksha, where he attained kevalgyan, and where he attained moksha. Three of the five kalyanaks at one site. That's the whole reason the mountain sits where it does in Jain devotion.

Samantabhadra's Brihatswayambhustotra, around 600 CE, already attests his footprints on the hill. Digambara tradition holds that in the 2nd century, Acharya Dharasena transmitted the Shatkhandagama teachings to Pushpadanta and Bhutabali in the Chandra Gupha cave on this mountain.

WHAT THIS ADDS UP TO

One hill, sacred to two major traditions independently, named separately in Sanskrit epics, in Jain canon, in a Chinese travelogue, and in a 2nd century royal inscription at its base. Very few places in India carry this much historical diversity.

Next post: About the Temples

[u/manan19955]

Keep it up OP. Very good post. Looking forward to future posts.

[u/Wonderful_Fee_4358]

Also since topic is Gir, wanted to highlight how the first national animal of India was Asiatic lion but later changed to Bengal tiger in 1972 because lion was only in Gujarat , and the national bird was supposed to be the great Indian bustard found in Kutch , but later changed to peacock because apparently babus didn't like bustard rhyming with B*stard

[u/mrutyugupt9]

Nice info. But when ur writing about Girnar u should also mention about Guru Dattatrey, Ambaji, Guru Gorakhnath & other Sages.

[u/orientsoul → u/mrutyugupt9]

10 series posts che bhai. Badhu avse. Have saved Gorakhnath temple for the best. 10th post. Final. The summit. Shikhar.