Overview

  • Features: Five Jain temples with intricately carved, ornate marble details
  • Opening Times: Jains – 6am to 6pm; non-Jains – 12pm to 6pm
  • Best Time to Visit: Late October to early March
  • Duration: 1 to 2 hours
  • Travelled By: Foot
  • Cost: Free
  • Address: Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India
  • Type: Temple

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Summary

If you’re reading this post chances are you’re going to visit the Dilwara temple Mount Abu. For me, it is one of the most beautiful temples in India and it’s definitely the most beautiful Jain temple in the world. Before your visit, you should read this post for interesting facts about these five Jain temples as well as the history and background to it.

Interesting Facts About Dilwara Temple Mount Abu

 

If you’re reading this post chances are you’re going to visit the Dilwara temple Mount Abu. For me, it is one of the most beautiful temples in India and it’s definitely the most beautiful Jain temple in the world. Before your visit, you should read this post for interesting facts about these five Jain temples as well as the history and background to it.

 

 

 

Interesting Facts About Dilwara Temple Mount Abu

  • The Jain Dilwara temple complex is located 2.5 km from the Mount Abu town centre
  • It is a major sacred pilgrimage site for Jains worldwide and is Mount Abu’s most popular attraction
  • The temple complex is set in beautiful surroundings of mango trees and wooded hills – a walk around the complex is worth it
  • The Dilwara temples predates the town of Mount Abu by several centuries and was built when this site was just a remote mountain area
  • The complex contains five Jain temples which are known worldwide for their superb marble carvings
  • Vimal Vasahi and Luna Vasahi temples are the most famous among the five Jain Dilwara temples
  • It is believed that the artisans were paid according to the amount of dust they collected, encouraging them to carve ever more intricately

 

 

Information About the Dilwara Temple Complex

Set in beautiful surroundings of mango trees and wooded hills, the Jain Dilwara temple complex is located 2.5 km (miles) from the Mount Abu town centre. Built by Vastupal Tejpal between the 11th and 13th centuries AD, these temples are famous worldwide for their superb marble carvings. This complex of five main temples is considered to be a major sacred pilgrimage site for Jains worldwide and is Mount Abu’s most popular attraction. The Dilwara temple complex predates the town of Mount Abu by several centuries and was built when this site was just a remote mountain area.

The Dilwara temple complex is surrounded by a high white wall which dazzles in the sunlight. The entrance way to the marble temples is opulent.

For Jain pilgrims, there is a resthouse on the approach road with facilities to bathe and prepare themselves, which is mandatory to perform puja to the idols. The approach road is also lined with stalls selling a collection of tourist kitsch lending a carnival atmosphere to the sanctity of the temples. It would be beautiful and serene here except for the noisy tourist guides and visitors that break the sanctity of these magnificent temples.

Among the beautiful Jain temples built in India, none is more spectacular or ornate in terms of architectural perfection and beauty than the Dilwara temples in Mount Abu. It is suggested that the artisans were paid according to the amount of dust they collected, encouraging them to carve ever more intricately. The intricately carved ornamental details can be seen in the minutely carved ceilings, doorways, pillars and panels.

 

 

The Dilwara temple complex consists of five individual temples, each different to the other in detail and finery. Each temple is named after the small village in which it is located.

  1. Parshvanatha – dedicated to the 23rd Jain Tirthankara, Parshva
  2. Vimal Vasahi – dedicated to the 1st Jain Tirthankara, Adinath
  3. Luna Vasahi – dedicated to the 22nd Jain Tirthankara, Neminatha
  4. Pithalhar – dedicated to the 1st Jain Tirthankar, Rishabha
  5. Mahavir Swami – dedicated to the last Jain Tirthankara, Mahavira

Vimal Vasahi and Luna Vasahi temples are the most famous among the five Jain Dilwara temples. The remaining three Dilwara temples are smaller, but just as elegant as these two.

 

 

1. Parshvanatha Dilwara Temple

 

From the entrance on the left, the first temple to be reached is Parshvanatha or Chaumukha Temple. It is dedicated to Lord Parshvanath.

 

Who built Dilwara Temple?

Parshvanatha Dilwara temple was built by Mandlik and his family in 1458-59.

 

Dilwara Temple Architecture

The temple is situated in a three-storied, grey sandstone building, the tallest in the Dilwara temple complex. Combining 13th- and 15th-century styles, it is generally regarded as inferior to the two main temples.

On all four faces of the sanctum on the ground floor are four big mandaps that contains four-faced images of the 23rd Jain Tirthankara, Parsvanatha (hence Chaumukha Temple). The outer walls of the sanctum comprise beautiful sculptures in gray sandstone, depicting Dikpals, double set of Vidhyadevis – one of standing figures and the other of sitting ones, a set of all 24 Yakshinis, Shalabhanjikas and other decorative sculptures especially females comparable to the ones in Khajuraho and Konark.

 

 

 

 

2. Vimal Vasahi Dilwara Temple

 

The Vimal Vasahi or Adinatha Temple lies directly ahead of Parshvanatha or Chaumukha Temple.

 

Who built Dilwara Temple?

Vimal Visahi Dilwara temple was built in 1031 AD by Vimal Shah, the chief minister of Bhimdev I, the Chalukya King of Gujarat.

 

Dilwara Temple History

This Dilwara temple is dedicated to the first Jain Tirthankara, Adinath. It is the oldest and most famous temple in the Dilwara temple complex. Carved entirely out of white marble, it is believed to have taken 1,500 masons and 1,200 labourers 14 years to build and cost Rs 185.3 million. The white marble of which the entire temple is built was brought from the relatively nearby marble quarries of Ambaji in Gujarat, 25 km south of Abu Road.

 

Dilwara Temple Architecture

 

Each and every inch of the temple’s interiors are adorned with intricate marble carvings. Makaras guard the entrance, and below them are conches. The cusped arches and ornate capitals are beautifully designed and superbly made.

 

 

Immediately outside the entrance to the temple is a small portico known as the Hastishala (elephant hall), built by Prithvipal in 1147-1159 which contains a figure of the patron, Vimal Shah, on horseback. The riders on the 10 beautifully carved elephants that surround him were removed during Alauddin Khilji’s reign. Dilwara belonged to Saivite Hindus who were unwilling to part with it until Vimal Shah could prove that it had once belonged to a Jain community. In a dream, the goddess Ambika (Ambadevi or Durga) instructed him to dig under a champak tree where he found a huge image of Adinatha and so won the land.

To the southwest, behind the hall, is a small shrine to Ambika, once the premier deity.

 

 

Similar to many other Jain temples, the plain exterior of the temple conceals a wonderful ornately carved interior which is remarkably well preserved given its age. The ceilings feature engraved designs of lotus-buds, petals, flowers and scenes from Jain and Hindu mythology. The main temple is set within a rectangular court lined with small shrines and a double colonnade, an early example of the Jain architectural style in Western India.

 

 

 

The temple stands in an open courtyard surrounded by a corridor. The walls of the main hall are lined with 57 shrines. Architecturally, it is suggested that these are related to the cells which surround the walls of Buddhist monasteries, but in the Jain temple the shrines are reduced in size to house simple images of a seated Jain saint. Although the carving of the images themselves is simple, the ceiling panels in front of the saints’ cells are astonishingly ornate.

 

 

Going clockwise round the cells, some of the more important ceiling sculptures illustrate: cell 1, lions, dancers and musicians; cells 2-7, people bringing offerings, birds, music-making; cell 8, Jain teacher preaching; cell 9, the major auspicious events in the life of the Tirthankars; and cell 10, Neminath’s life, including his marriage, and playing with Krishna and the gopis. In the southeast corner of the temple between cells 22 and 23 is a large black idol of Adinath, supposedly installed by Vimal Shah in 1031.

Cell 32 shows Krishna subduing Kaliya Nag, half human and half snake, and other Krishna scenes; cell 38, the 16-armed goddess Vidyadevi (goddess of knowledge); cells 46-48, 16-armed goddesses, including the goddess of smallpox, Shitala Mata; and cell 49, Narasimha, the ‘man-lion’ tearing open the stomach of the demon Hiranya-Kashyapa, surrounded by an opening lotus.

 

 

As in Gujarati Hindu temples, the main hall focuses on the sanctum which contains the 2½-m image of Adinatha or Lord Rishabdev, the first Jain Tirthankara. The sanctum is meant for worship to the deity. The sanctum with a pyramidal roof has a vestibule with entrances on three sides.

To the east of the sanctum is the mandapa (grand hall), a form of octagonal nave nearly 8 metres in diameter. Its 6-metre-wide central dome is supported by eight/twelve decorated columns and nicely carved out arches. The exquisite lotus ceiling carved from a single block of marble rises in 11 concentric circles, carved with elaborately repeated figures. On the pillars are carved female figurines playing musical instruments and superimposed across the lower rings are 16 brackets carved in the form of the goddesses of knowledge, each one holding her own symbol which is believed to be a memorial of victorious Brahma Kumaris follower from the last Kalpa.

 

 

3. Luna Vasihi Dilwara Temple

 

Who built Dilwara Temple?

To the north of Vimal Vasahi or Adinatha Temple, Luna Vasihi or Neminatha Temple was built in 1230 AD by two wealthy brothers, Vastupal and Tejapal, ministers of Virdhaval, the Vaghela ruler of Gujarat for Rs 125.3 million. Dedicated to the 22nd Tirthankara, Neminatha, this temple was built in memory of their late brother Luna.

 

Dilwara Temple History

Designed after Vimal Vasahi temple, this temple took 2,500 workers 15 years to build. This temple is smaller than Vimal Vasahi but the ground plan and architecture is similar. However, the architectural details here are far more perfect and refined.

 

Dilwara Temple Architecture

 

The attractive niches on either side of the sanctum’s entrance were for the builders’ wives. The decorative carving and jali work within this temple are so fine that the marble looks almost transparent in some places. The small domes in front of the shrine containing the bejewelled Neminatha figure, the exquisitely carved lotus on the sabha mandapa ceiling and the sculptures on the colonnades are especially noteworthy.

The Rang mandap or grand hall features a central dome from which hangs a big ornamental pendent featuring an elaborate carving of a lotus. Arranged in a circular band are 72 figures of Tirthankars in sitting posture and just below this band are 360 small figures of Jain monks in another circular band.

 

 

 

The Hathishala or elephant cell features 10 beautiful marble elephants neatly polished and realistically modelled.

The Navchowki or main hall features some of the most magnificent and delicate marble stone cutting work of the temple. Each of the nine ceilings here seems to exceed the others in beauty and grace.

The Gudh mandap or sanctum features a black marble idol of the 22nd Jain Tirthankar Neminatha.

The Kirthi Stambha is a big black stone pillar that stands on the left side of this Dilwara temple. The pillar was constructed by Maharana Kumbha of Mewar.

 

 

 

4. Pitalhar Dilwara Temple

Opposite the Vimal Visahi stands the unfinished Pitalhar or Rishabha Dev Temple.

 

Who built Dilwara Temple?

Pitalhar Dilwara temple was built in the late 13th century by Brahma Shah, the Mewari Maharana Pratap’s chief minister.

 

Dilwara Temple History

Pitalhar Dilwara temple is dedicated to the first Jain Tirthankara, Rishabha Dev or Adinath. Construction of the mandap and the corridor was curtailed by war with Gujarat and never completed.

 

Dilwara Temple Architecture

The Shrine consists of a Garbhagriha (grand hall), Gudh mandap (sanctum) and Navchowki (main hall).

A massive metal statue of Adinath, cast in five metals, – gold, silver, copper, braas and zinc – is installed in the temple. The main metal used in this statue is pital (brass), hence the name ‘Pittalhar’. According to the inscription on it, the old mutilated idol was replaced and installed in 1468-69 AD and weighs 108 maunds (4.3 tonnes). The image, cast by an artist named Deta, is 8 ft (2.4 m) high, 5.5 ft (1.7 m) broad and 41 inches in height.

 

 

 

5. Mahavir Swami Temple

 

Mahavir Swami Temple is a small structure constructed in 1582 and dedicated to Lord Mahavira. There are pictures on the upper walls of the porch painted in 1764 by the artists of Sirohi.

 

 

Note – As with all Jain temples in India, leather articles and cameras cannot be taken inside the Dilwara temple complex. Photography is not permitted inside.

 

 

Where is Dilwara Temple Located?

The Dilwara temple complex is located 2.5 km from the Mount Abu town centre.

Getting to the Dilwara temple complex is easy. You can walk there in an hour as we did, or take a shared taxi (Rs 10 per person) from the street opposite Chacha Café in Mount Abu town or on the main road in front of the Dilwara temples.

 

 

Dilwara Temple Timings

Jains – 6am to 6pm

Non-Jains – 12pm to 6pm

 

 

Tell us what you think. Why do you want to visit Dilwara Temple Mount Abu? If you’ve been here before, what impressed you most about the temple complex? 

We love to hear from you so please leave your comments below. 

 

 

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