Rajgir: The Five Hills of Ancient Magadha

Cradled within a ring of five rocky hills in the Nalanda district of Bihar, the ancient city of Rajgriha, known today as Rajgir, was one of the great capitals of the Magadhan kingdom and a place intimately bound up with the life of Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara. During his years of teaching, Mahavira is said to have spent many monsoon retreats in and around Rajgriha, delivering sermons and gathering disciples, and the surrounding hills are marked with numerous shrines commemorating his presence.

Rajgir occupies a unique position at the crossroads of Indian religious history, for it was equally important to the Buddhists, and the Buddha too taught here on the Vulture Peak. For the Jain tradition, however, its significance lies in the constant association of the site with Mahavira and with the ministers, kings and merchants who became his followers. The city was ruled in Mahavira's time by King Bimbisara and later his son Ajatashatru, figures who appear in both Jain and Buddhist accounts, and the whole valley resonates with the memory of that formative age.

The five hills encircling the old city, among them Vipulachala, Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Sonagiri and Vaibhargiri, are crowned with Jain temples, and the ascent of these peaks is a central part of the pilgrimage. Vipulachala in particular is covered with numerous temples and is reached today by a ropeway as well as by foot, allowing pilgrims to visit the many shrines that dot its summit. Each hill carries its own cluster of sanctuaries and its own associations with the events of Mahavira's ministry and with the ascetics who practised here.

Rajgir is also famous for its hot springs, the Brahmakund and associated tanks, whose warm mineral waters have drawn bathers and seekers since antiquity, and which are mentioned in ancient texts. The town preserves remnants of its great past, including the cyclopean stone walls that once girdled the ancient city, the ruins associated with royal palaces, and sites revered across multiple faiths, so that a visit here is a journey through more than two and a half thousand years of Indian civilisation.

The Jain temples of Rajgir range from ancient foundations to more recent constructions maintained by pilgrim trusts, and the hilltop shrines offer sweeping views over the wooded valley and the encircling ridges. The pilgrimage combines physical exertion with spiritual reward, as devotees climb from shrine to shrine tracing the footsteps of the Tirthankara. Nearby stands the vast Vishwa Shanti Stupa built by Japanese Buddhists on Ratnagiri, a reminder of the shared sanctity of these hills.

Rajgir is a compact and walkable pilgrimage centre, well provided with dharamshalas and rest houses, and it lies within easy reach of the other great sites of the region: Nalanda with its famous ancient university ruins is only a short distance away, Pavapuri where Mahavira attained nirvana is nearby, and Kundalpur associated with his early life lies close by as well.

The town is connected by rail and by road, with Patna the nearest major city and airport, roughly 100 kilometres distant. The cooler months from October to March are the most comfortable for climbing the hills. For the Jain pilgrim, Rajgir offers not a single monument but a whole sacred landscape, where the valleys and peaks still seem to echo with the sermons of Mahavira and the devotion of the age that first received them.