Archaeological evidences indicate the presence of Jains going back to at least 1500 BCE. The earliest literary reference to Shikharji as a tirth (place of pilgrimage) is found in the
Jñātṛdhārmakātha, one of the twelve core texts of Jainism compiled in 6th century BCE by chief disciple of
Mahavira. Shikharji is also mentioned in the
Pārśvanāthacarita, a twelfth-century biography of Pārśva. A 13th century CE palm-leaf manuscript of
Kalpa Sūtra and
Kalakacaryakatha has an image of a scene of Parshavanatha's
nirvana at Shikharji. Modern history records show that Shikharji Hill is regarded as the place of worship of the Jain community.
Vastupala, prime minister during the reign of king Vīradhavala and
Vīsaladeva of
Vaghela dynasty, constructed a Jain temple housing 20
idols of Tirthankaras. The temple also housed images of his ancestors and
Samavasarana. During the regime of
Mughal's rule in India,
Emperor Akbar in the year 1583 had passed an
firman (official order) granting the management of Shikharji Hill to the Jain community under the leadership of Harivijaya Suri to prevent the
slaughter of animals in the vicinity. Seth Hiranand Mukim, personal jeweller of Mughal Emperor
Jahangir, lead a party from Agra to Shikharji for Jain pilgrimage. In 1670, a Jain merchant from Agra named Kumarpal Lodha financed construction of temples at the site. In 1725, the area came under the control of the
Jagat Seth family of
Murshidabad. In 1825, Jagat Seth Kushalchand spent a substantial amount of money in consecrating the exact sites of liberation of all 20 tirthankaras, a Jal mandir,
dharamsalas & shrines to subsidiary deities at the site, under the guidance of
Tapa Gaccha monk Devijayji, with divine intervention from the Jain
Padmāvatī. After the Jagat Seth family died out in 1912, the area came under the local zamindar based in Palganj of
Giridih. In 1918, Seth
Badridas Mukeem of the influential Johari Seth
Jain community of Kolkata & Bahadur Singh Dugar of Murshidabad purchased the site from the zamindar on behalf of the
Anandji Kalyanji trust & renovated the structures built by the Jagat Seths. The site went further renovations in the 1980s. In 2019, the
Government of Delhi included Sammed Shikharji under Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana. == Approach ==