heritage/dilwara-temples-mount-abu.jpg · 1200×800The oldest of the five shrines is the Vimala Vasahi, built in 1031 CE by Vimala Shah, a minister of the Chaulukya king Bhima I, and dedicated to Rishabhanatha. Around its courtyard run 59 small shrines, each holding a seated Tirthankara. The nine ceilings of the navchowki before the sanctum carry lotus buds, petals and scenes from Jain story, cut so thin that daylight seems to pass through the marble.
Two centuries later the brothers Vastupala and Tejpala, ministers of the Vaghela ruler Viradhavala, raised the Luna Vasahi in 1230 CE for Neminatha, in memory of their brother Lunig. Its rang mandap dome falls in ring after ring of carving, circled by 72 figures of Tirthankaras, and a hall of 10 marble elephants stands beside it. Tradition says the masons were paid in gold equal to the weight of the marble dust they cut away.
Three later temples complete the group: the Pittalhar, whose heavy brass image of Adinatha was cast for the minister Bhima Shah; the three-storeyed Parshvanatha temple of 1458–59, the tallest here; and the small Mahavira Swami temple of 1582, with wall paintings added by Sirohi artists in 1764. The shrines were damaged in 1311 during Alauddin Khilji's campaign, repaired in 1321, and carefully restored between 1950 and 1965.
