Where is Delwara and How to Reach Its Famous Jain Temples

Delwara (Delvada) lies about 18 miles from Abu Road, just below Mount Abu — Arbudachal — in Rajasthan. It is celebrated for the Dilwara Jain temples, five marble Shvetambara shrines in one of the most important Jain tirthas of western India, and famous above all for the quality of their carving.

The five temples

The Vimala Vasahi and the Luna Vasahi are the two older and more important shrines. The Vimala Vasahi is entered through a domed porch on the east, facing a six-pillared pavilion — the Hastishala — and inside, a raised corridor runs round all four sides of the courtyard, lined with about fifty-four cells. The Luna Vasahi was built by Tejapala for the spiritual welfare of his wife Anupamadevi and his son Lavanyasimha, and takes its name from the latter; its principal image is a large Neminatha in black basalt.

Pittalhar is named for its metal — pittala, brass — after a Rishabhanatha image of about 108 maunds. The Chaumukha (Kharatara Vasahi) stands in a separate compound entered by a narrow passage: three storeys around a four-faced tower, with an image on each side visible from every floor.

What the temples are admired for is decorative carving rather than figure sculpture — floral work, arabesques, lotus-pendants, rows of swans and elephants — and their ceilings and pillars are the reason the complex is studied as closely by historians of art as it is visited by pilgrims. The shrines also preserve inscribed portraits of their donors and, unusually, of the craftsmen: two sutradharas, Kela and Loyana, are named in a Vimala Vasahi ceiling.

How to reach Delwara

The nearest railhead is Abu Road, a junction on the Delhi–Ahmedabad line. From Abu Road, road transport climbs to Mount Abu town, and Delwara village with the temple complex is a short journey further on. Achalgarh, with its own group of shrines, is about three miles beyond Delwara on the same road.