The Jalmandir is the specific marble temple at the centre of Pawapuri's sacred tank, built on the spot where Mahavira, the last Jain Tirthankara, is believed to have been cremated after attaining nirvana. Connected to the shore by a long causeway, the pristine white temple sits amid a sea of lotus flowers, its reflection in the still water creating one of the most photographed scenes in Jain pilgrimage.
The temple's serene, contained setting — a single sacred structure surrounded entirely by water — makes it distinct even among India's many significant religious sites, and it remains an active, carefully maintained centre of Jain worship rather than simply a historical monument.
Jain tradition holds that the water of the surrounding tank arose spontaneously at the site of Mahavira's cremation as devotees took away the sacred ash, and the temple has been maintained and rebuilt over the centuries to preserve the sanctity of the exact location.
October to March.
About 100km from Patna, part of the wider Rajgir–Nalanda pilgrimage circuit.
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