Mount Abu Hill station

Mount Abu is a popular hill station in the Aravalli range and lies in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The place is well-known for its Dilwara Jain Temples. It houses waterfalls, lakes, rivers and evergreen forests. Mount Abu is also called as ‘an oasis in the desert’. Further, Mount Abu has a cool and soothing climate. And hence, it is titled by localities as ‘the summer capital of Rajasthan’ as tourists visit the place to escape the scorching heat of the state. The highest peak on the Mount Abu is ‘Guru Shikhar’. The place has a religious significance for both Hindus and Jains and hence, it is home to over 80 temples including Dilwara Jain Temple, Shri Raghunathiji Temple and Durga Ambika Mata Temple. Further, the place is also famous for a three-day summer festival of classical music and folk dance. The performances at the festival attract lots of tourists. There are several tourist places in Mount Abu which are mostly visited by the travellers. Notably, every year more than three million national and international tourists visit Mount Abu to enjoy its scenic beauty, rich flora & fauna as well as the marble art of Dilwara Jain Temples.

Amba Ji Temple

This is the principal shrine of a goddess who has been worshiped since the pre-Vedic period. She is often referred to as Arasuri Amba, named for the location of the temple in the Arasur hills, near the source of the Saraswati river at the south-western end of the Aravali mountain range. The red flag above the small temple dances welcomingly in the wind. Made of white marble with gold cones, the temple was originally built by Nagar Brahmins. There is a main entrance in the front and only a small side-door, because it is believed that Mataji (another name for Ambaji) has forbidden the addition of any other door. The temple is surrounded by an open square called chachar chowk where ceremonial sacrifices called havans are performed. The inner sanctum of the temple has silver-plated doors. There is a gokh, or niche, in the wall on which is fixed a old-plated marble inscription of the Viso Yantra, a Vedic text on sacred geometry, which is the main focus of worship. There is no idol of the goddess, perhaps because the temple is so ancient that it predates idol-worship, but the priests decorate the upper portion of the gokh in such a way that it looks like an idol of a goddess from a distance. Be sure to look across the temple (i.e. with your back facing the goddess) at the other temple on the Gabbar, considered the original abode of the goddess. At a short distance from the Ambaji temple is a large rectangular kund, with steps on all its four sides, called Mansarovar.