Jintoor- Nemgiri

Marthwada-Vidharbha Circuit- 8 days, 1750 Kms
Pune-Ahmednagar-Parbhani- Navagarh-Jintur (480 Kms)
Jintur-Lonar-Mehekar-Karanja (216 Kms)
Karnja-Amravati--Chikhaldara (153 Kms)
Chikhaldara-Partwada-Muktagiri (44Kms)
Chikhaldara-Semadoh-Chikhaldara (50Kms)
Muktagiri-Achalpur-Akot-Shegaon (120 Kms)
Shegaon-Mehekar-SindkhedRaja-Jalna-Aurangabad- (265 Kms)
Aurangabad-Nagar-Pune (236 Kms)

JINTOOR – NEMGIRI
Type: Temple-Shri Digamber Jain Atishya Kshetra Nemgiri
Base Village: Jintur
Where: 400 Kms from Pune via Aurangabad/Jalna, 450 Kms via Parbhani
Route: Pune-Ahmednagar-Parbhani-Navagarh-Parbhani-Jintur
Time visited: October 2011
How to reach: From Jintur town Negiri hill is 4 kms away. There is road through the town but it goes through narrow lanes. Another approach is from the highway. Look for a water tank after Jintur. A narrow muddy trail goes right through an arch opposite the water tank. Follow the trail keeping Nemgiri hill on left till a crossing. Take a left road and start climbing the hill through the 2 arches to the top.
Lodging-Boarding facilities:  Available at the kshetra. VIP suites are in very nice.
My Meter reading from Pune: 500 Kms

From Navagardh we started back to Parbhani. On the way we stopped over for yummy giant coconut-water. The clock was ticking and I had to rush to Jintur as the Bhojnalaya in Jain temple closes @ 6.30 PM. Fortunately roads was in better condition than NH222. Since again on advice of locals we took a outer road had a tough time locating Nemgiri hill as the darkness started to descend.

But finally managed to reach the hill and the Bhojanalya was closed. The kind lady agreed to prepare poha and tea as there was no other food option. The VIP Suites were nice but there were huge number of bugs in night. We had to keep lights off all the time or windows closed to avoid them. After yummy poha and hot tea we went for Aarti and temple visit. In the morning after darshan we visited Chandragiri hill.

History: Two Jain kings Yamraj and Nemiraj ruled Jintur which was then know as know as Jinpur. There were 10 Jain temples were destroyed in invasions along with several idols and both the kings were killed. Few of these Jain Idols were saved are still seen in 2 temples in the town. Around 450 years ago Vir Sanghviji with his three sons Nema Sanghvi, Antu Sanghvi and Satu sanghvi migrated to Jintur and started resotring temples and idols and discovered the caves at Nemgiri.

There are two hills named Nemgiri & Chandragiri, famous for their ancient artistic & miraculous Jain Cave Temples & Chaityalayas. The temples are very ancient and more than 2500 years old, famous as Jainpur. It is said that the temples were constructed in the time of Emperor, Amogh Varsha of Rashtrakuts. Later these temples were destroyed by invaders. Now only two temples are present.
In the year 1609 A.D. these temples were reconstructed and developed by Shri Veer Sangavi. It is said that Samavsharan of Lord Mahaveer visited this Atishya Kshetra. It is also said that the Last Shrut Kevali Acharya Bhadrabahu with his 12000 scholars came and installed the famous idol of Lord Parsvanath, called Antariksha Parsvanath. According to archaeologists the idols of this Kshetra are nearly 1000 years old.

Nemgiri Hill

This is a cave temple or an underground temple.

The Main Entrance to the temple looks like normal entrance. But the entrance to actual temple is very small and you have to bend down and start climbing down the stairs. The marble flooring and well lit staircase take you to various rooms with huge idols as you climb down.

In first cave of Nemgiri, an attractive idol of Lord Mahaveer in cross legged seating posture is installed, 3.5 feet in height.

In second cave there is an ancient idol of Lord Adinath in state of meditation & penance.

In third cave there a 6 feet idol of Lord Shantinath with symbol of deer is seen. This was supposed to be touching down at few points till few years back. But now black marble has been installed underneath.

In the 4th Cave, a very huge and beautiful 7.5 feet idol of Lord Neminath with Conch Shell symbol is seen. 

The 5th Cave has 6.5 feet Bhagvan Parshwanath Idol resting on a small stone of about 3 to 4 inches (80 to 100 mm) diameter and is believed to be around 9 ton in weight! This is again not entirely touching the ground and light can easily be seen underneath.

The tiny sixth cave has 4.5 feet Nandishwar. However if considered as a Manastambha for for Mulnayak Neminath bhagwaan with four heads in four directions.

The last one- seventh cave has an artistic standing 5.5 feet idol of Lord Bahubali.

Chandragiri Hill  

A cement trail near the main entrance takes you right to the Chandragiri hill which is behind Nemgiri.

A small temple erected on the temple can be reached after 20 minutes of climb.

The temple has standing idols of Lord Shantinath, Kunthunath & Arahnath.

There are 2 old temples in Jintur city- Sahu Mandir and Mahaveer Mandir where there are 1024 old Jain idols