Why in news? Jharkhand government decide to change Sammed SikharAji at Parasnath Parvat (hill), Giridih district, from a “place of pilgrimage” to a “religious tourist destination”

Highlights

• The protesters demand that the Jharkhand government revoke its decision to promote “Parasnath Parvat” as a part of eco-tourism or any kind of tourism
• National Commission for Minorities wrote to the Jharkhand Chief Secretary for taking cognisance of the representation from the Jain community to give the hill a “holy status”.

About Shikharji(Sammed or Sammet Shikharji)

• Location: Giridih district, Jharkhand

Geography

• Inland part of rural east India
• It lies on NH-2, the Delhi-Kolkata highway in a section called the Grand Trunk road
• It is located on Parasnath hill, the highest mountain in the state of Jharkhand.

Jain tradition

• place of twenty of the twenty-four Jain tirthankaras including Parshvanatha along with many other monks attained Moksha
• considered the most important Jain Tirtha by both Digambara and Svetambara.
• Five principal pilgrimage shrine: Ashtapad, Girnar, Dilwara Temples of Mount Abu ,Shatrunjaya and Shikharji

Replica: In Siddhachalam in New Jersey