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Is a steep-sided extinct volcano, 4 kms away from Junagadh at a height of over 1,100 m. It is a major pilgrimage centre for both Jains and Hindus and has been considered sacred since before the 3rd century BC. Buses leave from Junagadh's local depot hourly, dropping passengers at the mountain base, from where five thousand irregular steps lead to the summit. The path climbs through eucalyptus forest before zig-zagging across the sheer rock face.
On a plateau below the summit, roughly ninety minute's climb from the base of the steps, the picturesque huddle of Jain temples has been slightly renovated since its erection between 1128 and 1500. Neminath, the 22nd 'Tirthankara' said to have died on Mount Girnar after 700 years of meditation and asceticism, is depicted as a black figure sitting in the lotus position holding a conch in the marble Neminath Temple.
The temple comprise a vast complex of courtyards, cloisters and lesser shrines, and exquisite carving on its pillars and within the domed roofs, decorated outside with unusual colored mosaic. Opposite, the Mallinath Temple was built by the brothers Vastupal and Tejapala who also funded temples in Mount Abu and Shatrunjaya.
It is well worth making the efforts to climb the final two thousand steps to the summit of Mount Girnar. The views on the way are breathtaking . At the top, a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Amba Mata attracts both Hindu and Jain pilgrims. Steps lead down from this temple and then up again along a narrow ridge towards Gorakhnath Peak, where a small shrine covers what are supposedly the foot-prints of Gorakhnath, and further to a third peak where the imprints of Neminath's feet are sheltered by small canopy. At most distant point of the ridge, a shrine dedicated to the fierce Hindu goddess Kalika, the eternal aspect of Durga.
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