Shatrunjaya Hill Pilgrim Climb, Palitana

Shatrunjaya, the hill above the small town of Palitana in Bhavnagar district, carries one of the most extraordinary summit landscapes in India: roughly 900 Jain temples in white and cream marble, grouped into nine walled enclosures, or tuks, built and rebuilt from the 11th century onward around the central Adinath temple. Reaching them means climbing a stone stairway of roughly 3,800 to 3,950 steps that rises about 600 m from the temple gate at the edge of town. There is no ticket to climb. The rhythm of the hill is set by Jain religious law: nobody, not even a priest, may sleep on the summit, so the entire temple city is emptied each evening and the gates are shut, which means climbers must start early enough to be back down before the closing hour, usually around 5 to 6 PM. Most pilgrims begin between 4 and 6 AM, both to catch the cool air and to be at the Adinath shrine for morning worship. The steps are wide, well maintained and broken by rest pavilions and water points, and doli chairs carried by porters are available at the base for those unable to walk. Leather belts, wallets and shoes are not permitted beyond the temple gates, and food is not carried onto the hill at all, so eating is done before the climb or after the descent. The temples close entirely during the monsoon months, roughly June to September, when the Jain calendar restricts travel and the steps turn slick; the pilgrimage season runs from about October to March, peaking around the Kartik Purnima full moon.