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Mangal Chand Pandya believes {that a} household that travels collectively stays collectively. In 1993, this religious Jain from Hyderabad introduced his want to sponsor a pilgrimage to Shri Sammed Shikar Ji in Jharkhand for 51 {couples}. However he died the identical yr. Twenty-nine years later, his sons fulfilled his father’s dream by taking 450 Jains to the holy website.
It’s customary for Jain patriarchs to mobilise prolonged household for such journeys since they imagine it promotes togetherness and concord. Situated on Parasnath Hill, the very best mountain within the state, it’s right here that 20 of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras attained moksha.
The late Pandya’s six sons—Narender, Mahender, Rajender, Pawan, Padam and Dilip—had been ecstatic about mobilising 450 of their household to take the mega pilgrimage. Lokender Jain, a meals and journey blogger from Hyderabad, who was part of the journey, additionally its spokesperson, shares, “Planning started a yr in the past. Pilgrimage passports had been handed to the visitors a day earlier than we set out. There have been 21 occasion managers caring for every thing.” The pilgrimage prices about `1 crore and the age group was from six months to 82 years outdated. “Nearly 80 p.c of the 450 pilgrims had been associated by blood,” say Jain.
Each couple within the tour was allotted a novel identification quantity. The practice journey from Secunderabad to Dhanbad, the closest railhead, took round 30 hours. It was a spectacular journey—the onward journey to the temple was in a convoy of fifty SUVs. Upon arrival, the {couples} had been allotted separate rooms within the Dharamshala. “We gave out two units of conventional Jain pooja attires—a one-piece white dhoti and dupatta for the boys, and an ochre-coloured saree for the ladies,” says Padam Pandya, one of many siblings who organised the journey.
For 5 days, the pilgrims participated in poojas, bhajans, group meals and extra. The meals was conventional Jaini meals with out onions and garlic. Essentially the most memorable second of the journey? “A comedy of errors resulting from similar first names and second names,” shares Pandya. “When everybody ‘Jains’ in, there’s certain to be confusion,” he laughs. Will they conduct extra such journeys? “We wish to make it an annual ritual and hope that God offers us the wherewithal to make it greater and higher,” the siblings say in unison.
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