Taranga Jain Temple was constructed by the Solanki Dynasty King Kumarpal of Gujarat under the advice of his teacher, Acharya Hemachandra. Nestled at the Mehsana town of Patan district in Gujarat Taranga (Taranga Tirtha) is a Shvetambar Jain Temple and pilgrim center. A 2.75m marble statue of Adinatha is the fundamental (Mulnayak) idol. The compound consists of 14 temples in all, five of which are from the Digambar sect.
The Digambar Jains established themselves on an isolated hill with its three rocky peaks. Taranga is a siddh kshetra. It is said that 35,000,000 `rishis` including Vardutt and Sagardutt achieved nirvana from this place. The two hillocks named Kotishala and Sidhhshila have idols of Bhagwan Neminath and Mallinath of Vikram 1292. There are 14 Digambar Jain Temples in the foothills. The Digambar Jain Dharamshala is in the foothills. Sometime in the 12th century, Kumarpal, the Solanki King, residing in Patan, himself a Svetambar Jaina, chose this site to erect an exceptionally beautiful temple in honour of Adinath. Under the motivation of and guidance of Kalikalasarvajna Acharyashri Hemchandracharya, this temple was built in the year 1200 of the Vikram era. Of the 108 names of Siddhachal, one is `Tarangir`. For this reason, Taranga is regarded as a peak of Siddhachal.
In the centre of the main vast square with the length of 230 feet and the breadth of 230 feet (70m square), the temple measures 50 feet in length, 100 feet in breadth and 142 feet in height (15m x 30m x 43m). It has a perimeter of 639 feet (195m). The 275m (902 feet) high wooden summit of Taranga Temple is magnificently carved. It has seven domes in all. On the right side of the temple, there are foot-idols of Bhagwan Adinath and of the 20 wondering Bhagawan and on the left hand side there is a temple of Gaumukhji, the Samavasaran (the open lecture hall), and the Jambudvipa painting. On the outer podium of the main temple, there are idols of Padmavatidevi and Kumarpal Maharaja.
Kumarpal had also built a temple of Adinath on Mount Shatrunjay near Palitana, some years earlier to the Taranga temple. Built of light sandstone, the Taranga temple measures 45 metres in length by 30.4 metres in width, reaching up to an imposing height of 30.6 metres (148 ft by 100 feet by 100 feet). In its plan and design it resembles the Neminath temple on Mt. Girnar and the above mentioned Adinath temple on Mt. Shatrunjay. On the highest elevation of the three-peaked hill there stands a so-called Tonk, a small building in the art of a Muslim grave. Built by Digambars, it houses a marble statue of the 19th Tirthankara, Mallinathji.
