Pawapuri

Pawapuri (Pava) in Bihar’s Nalanda district is where Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, attained nirvana — the moksha-kshetra of the Jains, marked by the marble Jal Mandir standing in a lake of lotuses.

Significance

Mahavira’s nirvana at Pava (c. 468 BCE by one reckoning) makes Pawapuri one of Jainism’s four holiest sites (with Sammed Shikhar, Kundalpur? — the principal moksha-bhumi shrines); the Jal Mandir (“water temple”), a white marble shrine on an island reached by a stone bridge, stands where the cremation is said to have drawn earth from the ground so deeply that a tank formed. The nearby temple marks the site of Mahavira’s cremation (the Gaon Mandir).

History

The site’s sanctity descends unbroken in Jain tradition; the Jal Mandir’s present form was raised in the 19th century under the patronage of the Raja? — of Swetambar and Digambar communal subscription (the site serves both sects).

Modern status

A principal Jain pilgrimage, densest on Mahavira Jayanti and the Diwali-amavasya (the night of the nirvana, which Jains keep as their year’s chief festival — the lamp of knowledge lit since that night).

Verification notes

• The nirvana site’s identification is canonical for the tradition; the temple’s 19th-century form is documented.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).