Dilwara Temples

Five marble temples renowned for carving so fine the stone is translucent in places. Built under the Solanki rulers.

Five temples on Mount Abu, built between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries under Solanki patronage. The exteriors are deliberately plain; the whole of the effort is inside.

The carving is the reason people come. Ceilings are cut into concentric lotus rosettes so deep and so fine that the marble is translucent in places, and no two of the corridor's pillars repeat. The tradition holds that the carvers were paid by the weight of the marble dust they removed, which is a story about patience rather than about wages.

The Vimal Vasahi, the earliest of the five, is dedicated to Rishabhadeva; the Luna Vasahi to Neminatha, the twenty-second Tirthankara.

Worth knowing

• Photography inside the temples is generally not permitted.
• Leather items are not carried in.

For opening times and access, check the temple's own announcements — they change, and we would rather list nothing than send you to a closed door.

Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.