Five thousand feet above sea-level is Mount Abu, without doubt the most interesting and attractive hill-station within easy reach of Mumbai, Ahmadabad & Udaipur. The railway runs along the foot of the hill and an excellent motor-road links it with Abu Road Railway Station. “The Rajput Olympus” as it is called, has all the amenities of modern life, and the pilgrim combines the pleasures of a mountaineering expedition with the interests of an archaeological excursion. Its bracing climate and its picturesque scenery attract thousands of visitors every year, but the primary interests of the pilgrims are centered round the famous Dilwara temples. There are several sacred and ancient Hindu temples too.
Dilwara Temples, one of the prominent tourist attractions in Mount Abu, are set among ideal surroundings hedged round by verdant hills. The temples, enclosed by high walls and protected by ante-chambers, hide their beauty until the main quadrangles are reached when the sum-total of their loveliness bursts upon us and takes our breath away. Forests of layer upon layer of carvings so ornate, so cunningly executed that the eye fails to grasp the marvels of the craftsmanship. In the center of the domes are pendants so lengthy that they are almost detached from their background and are suggestive of heavy tassels of stillest silken cord suspended by a single thread. The temples, it is said, were built by Jains in honour of Adinath, the first Jain teacher and of Neminath the twenty-second Tirthankara. Built exclusively in marble, the delicacy of their detail and the appropriateness of ornament are held to be unsurpassed. The temple of Vimala Shah was built in the middle of the eleventh century and two centuries later came the Vastupala and Tejpala temples.
Throughout India, mountains and hilltops become the abode of particular gods. In the hills of Rajasthan, there are well-known hilltop goddesses, such as Arbuda Devi (Adhar Devi) and Ambajj (Goddess Durga or Ambika ) at Mount Abu (Arbuda). Not far from Dilwara is Achaleshwar memorable for the imprint of Lord Shiva’s toe. It is said that Lord Shiva thrust his foot through the earth from his shrine at Varanasi “so as to steady Mount Abu when it was a-wobble”. The depth of this hole has never been plumbed, but it is assumed that it extends to ‘patal’, the lowest region of the earth. The highest point in Mount Abu is the Hermit’s Peak whose summit is capped by a little Lord Shiva shrine in true Hindu fashion.