According to the Shatrunjaya Mahatmya, the first Tirthankara Rishabha sanctified the hill where he delivered his first sermon.
It was his grandson Pundarika, grandson of Rishabha who attained Nirvana at Shatrunjay, hence the hill was originally known as "Pundarikgiri".
There exists a marble image of Pundaraksvami
consecrated in V.S. 1064 (1120 CE) by Shersthi Ammeyaka to commemorate the sallekhana of a muni belonging to the Vidhyadhara Kula.
   Bharata Chakravartin, the father of Pundarik and half-brother of Bahubali, also came to Shatrunjaya many times.
He is also credited with building a temple here in honour of his father Rishabha.
Legendarily it is also associated with many other Tirthankaras.:249
The Palitana temples were built over a period of 900 years starting in the 11th century.
 Kumarpal Solanki, a great Jain patron, probably built the earliest temples.
It is said that sculptors' skills and capacity to carve with abrasive cords (not tools) the intricate designs was paid on the basis of the marble dust that they had collected every evening after their hard labour.
They were destroyed by Turkish Muslims invaders in 1311 AD, when the saint Jinaprabhasuri, who was then 50 years old, presided over the temples.
Two years later, the rebuilding began.
While some temple building activity took place under Samara Shah, it was only two centuries later that it picked up momentum, when in 1593, Hiravijayasuri (Chief of Tapa Gaccha) organized a major pilgrimage to this location to attend the consecration ceremony of the temple built for Rishabha by Tej Pal Soni, a merchant.
Following this, there was proliferation of temples here.

Most of the temples which are now present date to the 16th century.
In 1656, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh (the then Governor of Gujarat) granted Palitana villages to the prominent Jain merchant Shantidas Jhaveri, a Svetambara Jain.
Subsequently, all taxes were also exempted, helping the temple town prosper further.
It was brought under the control of the Anandji Kalyanji Trust in 1730 to manage not only Palitana temples but also many other temples of Svetambara Jains, since the Mughal period.

History also makes a mention that Lunia Seth Tilokchand, a merchant from Ajmer led a very large contingent of pilgrims to the Shatrunjaya temples when he heard that there were some disturbances at the Angarshah Pir on the hills.
But he continued his pilgrimage and pleased the Pir by his offerings.
This tradition is followed to this day by his descendants by offering an expensive cloth to cover the dome of the shrine.

The most important temples on the hill are those of Adinath, Kumarpal, Sampratiraja, Vimal Shah, Sahasrakuta, Ashtapada and Chaumukh.
Some of them are named after the wealthy patrons who paid for the construction.

Many of these temples are  kept in “mint” condition with large donations provided by the rich Jain merchant community.

Palitana was a princely state of India till it merged with India after independence in August 1947.
It was the capital of the Kingdom of Rajpipla and Gohil Rajput clan.
According to the Shatrunjaya Mahatmya, the first Tirthankara Rishabha sanctified the hill where he delivered his first sermon. It was his grandson Pundarika, grandson of Rishabha who attained Nirvana at Shatrunjay, hence the hill was originally known as "Pundarikgiri". There exists a marble image of Pundaraksvami
consecrated in V.S. 1064 (1120 CE) by Shersthi Ammeyaka to commemorate the sallekhana of a muni belonging to the Vidhyadhara Kula.    Bharata Chakravartin, the father of Pundarik and half-brother of Bahubali, also came to Shatrunjaya many times. He is also credited with building a temple here in honour of his father Rishabha. Legendarily it is also associated with many other Tirthankaras.:249
The Palitana temples were built over a period of 900 years starting in the 11th century.  Kumarpal Solanki, a great Jain patron, probably built the earliest temples.It is said that sculptors' skills and capacity to carve with abrasive cords (not tools) the intricate designs was paid on the basis of the marble dust that they had collected every evening after their hard labour. They were destroyed by Turkish Muslims invaders in 1311 AD, when the saint Jinaprabhasuri, who was then 50 years old, presided over the temples. Two years later, the rebuilding began. While some temple building activity took place under Samara Shah, it was only two centuries later that it picked up momentum, when in 1593, Hiravijayasuri (Chief of Tapa Gaccha) organized a major pilgrimage to this location to attend the consecration ceremony of the temple built for Rishabha by Tej Pal Soni, a merchant. Following this, there was proliferation of temples here.
Most of the temples which are now present date to the 16th century. In 1656, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh (the then Governor of Gujarat) granted Palitana villages to the prominent Jain merchant Shantidas Jhaveri, a Svetambara Jain. Subsequently, all taxes were also exempted, helping the temple town prosper further. It was brought under the control of the Anandji Kalyanji Trust in 1730 to manage not only Palitana temples but also many other temples of Svetambara Jains, since the Mughal period.
History also makes a mention that Lunia Seth Tilokchand, a merchant from Ajmer led a very large contingent of pilgrims to the Shatrunjaya temples when he heard that there were some disturbances at the Angarshah Pir on the hills. But he continued his pilgrimage and pleased the Pir by his offerings. This tradition is followed to this day by his descendants by offering an expensive cloth to cover the dome of the shrine.
The most important temples on the hill are those of Adinath, Kumarpal, Sampratiraja, Vimal Shah, Sahasrakuta, Ashtapada and Chaumukh. Some of them are named after the wealthy patrons who paid for the construction.
Many of these temples are  kept in “mint” condition with large donations provided by the rich Jain merchant community.
Palitana was a princely state of India till it merged with India after independence in August 1947. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Rajpipla and Gohil Rajput clan.
Palitana temples