Shri 1008 Digambar Jain Atishaya Kshetra, Pakbira, District-Purulia (West Bengal)

Pakbira or Pakbirrah is the largest and most famous archeological spot in Purulia district.
A large number of Jain sculptures was found many can still be seen here, but most of them got dilapidated in course of time. At present three stone temples are standing here and innumerable statues, decorative stones and panels dot the whole place. Besides, a massive statue of Padmaprabha (which is considered the biggest Jain statue ever found in Purulia) is the cynosure of the place. Anantavarmana was a follower of Jainism, the religion received royal
patronage and many temples for the Digambara sect were built in Bankura and Purulia in the 11th and 12 century AD in honour of Parswanatha and Mahavira. Unfortunately the same Odishan kings who later on inclined towards Brahminical faith converted Jaina temples into Hindu temples for Shiva or Vishnu. Many temples in the course of time met this fate and images of Jain Tirthankaras came to be worshipped as the images of the Brahminical order like Vishnu, Shiva or Dharma Thakur. At some places attempts have been made to modify the images and in that process deformation took place. With the withdrawal of royal patronage, the temples soon lost their glory and in the centuries to follow none came to look after them. Many of them turned into heaps of ruins and a few which are still standing almost miraculously, may waiting the same fate. However the saddest incident took place in the mid 1950s when a very area called Telkupi was submerged under the newly constructed dam by Damodar Valley Corporation without allowing any scope for documentation or translocation. Telkupi was a major Jain settlement with temples and other artefacts dating back to the 9th century Pala period.