Pavapuri and Rajgir

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  WHAT IT IS: Pavapuri, in Nalanda District of Bihar, is the place where Bhagwan Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, is remembered to have attained nirvana, final liberation. The Jal Mandir, a white marble temple, stands in the middle of a lotus lake.
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  WHY VISIT: Pilgrims come to remember Mahavira's last teachings, to bow before his footprints, and to reflect on liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Many chant the Navkar Mantra here.
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  WHEN TO VISIT: October to March is cool and pleasant. The main gathering is on Diwali, the night of Kartika Amavasya, which Jains mark as the Nirvana Kalyanak. Mahavira Jayanti falls on Chaitra Shukla Trayodashi.
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  WHERE: Pavapuri, also called Apapapuri, "the sinless town," is about 19 km from Rajgir and about 101 km from Patna.
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  HOW (VIDHI AND RULES):
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  Dress: For puja in the inner shrine, worshippers wear clean, unstitched white cloth. Modest dress is expected for general darshan.
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  Route: Many pilgrims first visit the village temple, then cross the causeway to the Jal Mandir for darshan of Mahavira's footprints, and then visit the Samosharan Mandir.
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  Conduct: Avoid leather, intoxicants and non-vegetarian food. Keep silence, or recite the Navkar Mantra inwardly, on the causeway.

Jain tradition calls the town Apapa, which means free from sin, and later Pavapuri. The Kalpa Sutra, a scripture of the Svetambara tradition (one of Jainism's two major branches, alongside the Digambara), tells in its Jinacharita chapter, the life of the Jinas, that Mahavira spent his last rainy-season retreat, the Chaturmas, at Apapa. He stayed in the hall of King Hastipala.

Tradition says he spent his last days teaching the assembled monks, nuns, kings and householders. The Uttaradhyayana Sutra is held by Svetambara tradition to preserve his final teachings, and it speaks of the soul, karma and liberation across its 36 chapters. In chapter 10 he urges Gautama again and again not to be careless even for a moment.

Mahavira attained nirvana before dawn at the close of the night of Kartika Amavasya. The Svetambara tradition places this in 527 BCE. The Digambara tradition gives 510 BCE. The Jinacharita chapter of the Kalpa Sutra records that the eighteen allied kings of Kashi and Kosala lit lamps that night, saying that the light of knowledge had gone out. The Jain observance of Diwali grows from this memory.

Local tradition holds that his body was cremated here. It says that so many devotees gathered to take the ashes and the sacred earth that a hollow was formed, and that this hollow became the lotus lake. The Jal Mandir stands in this lake today.

On the same night his chief disciple Indrabhuti Gautama attained Kevala Jnana, perfect knowledge. Jains therefore keep Diwali as the festival of both nirvana and knowledge.

Pavapuri has drawn the faithful of both Jain traditions for centuries.

Indrabhuti Gautama, the first of Mahavira's chief disciples, is remembered for attaining Kevala Jnana on the night of the nirvana. Sudharma Swami, another chief disciple, carried the teaching forward in the Svetambara tradition.

The medieval monk Jinaprabha Suri described Apapa in his Vividha Tirtha Kalpa, a guide to Jain pilgrimage places. Today, Svetambara and Digambara monks and nuns walk to Pavapuri on foot, covering long distances barefoot to bow before the footprints.

Rajgir, the capital of Magadha in Mahavira's time, is linked to King Shrenika, known as Bimbisara, a devoted follower of Mahavira in Jain tradition.

Before entering the Jal Mandir, pilgrims quietly recite the Navkar Mantra, the central prayer of Jainism.

Ṇamō Arihantāṇaṁ, Ṇamō Siddhāṇaṁ, Ṇamō Āyariyāṇaṁ.

Ṇamō Uvajjhāyāṇaṁ, Ṇamō Lōē Savvasāhūṇaṁ.

Ēsō Pañca-ṇamōkkārō, Savva-pāvappaṇāsaṇō.

Maṅgalāṇaṁ Ca Savvēsiṁ, Paḍhamaṁ Havai Maṅgalaṁ.

Meaning: "I bow to the Arihantas, who have conquered the inner enemies. I bow to the Siddhas, the liberated souls. I bow to the Acharyas, the spiritual guides. I bow to the Upadhyayas, the teachers of scripture. I bow to all Sadhus in the world. This fivefold salutation destroys all sins and is the first of all auspicious things."