Girnar was an important mountain that has been a sacred place for Hindus and Jains for centuries.
In the 7th century, the Chinese traveler Hsuan-tsang mentioned Girnar as a place of "supernatural rishis," likely referring to Saivite Pashupata ascetics, as described by his contemporary Bāṇabhaṭṭa. On the southern side of the mountain, there are Jain temples that were built in the 13th century.[6]
Ashoka edicts
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Fourteen of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts, dating to circa 250 BCE, are inscribed on a large boulder that is housed in a small building located outside the town of Junagadh on Saurashtra peninsula in the state of Gujarat, India. It is located on Girnar Taleti road, at about 2 km (1.2 mi) far from Uperkot Fort easterly, some 2 km before Girnar Taleti. An uneven rock, with a circumference of seven meters and a height of ten meters, bears inscriptions etched with an iron pen in Brahmi script in a language similar to Pali and date back to 250 BCE, thus marking the beginning of written history of Junagadh.[7]