Dilwara Temples

The Dilwara Temples stand in the forested hills above Mount Abu in southern Rajasthan, among the five great Svetambara pilgrimage places of the Jains. Five white-marble shrines were raised between the 1000s and 1500s, their plain exteriors giving way to lace-like marble carving.

The earliest and largest, the Vimal Vasahi dedicated to Rishabhanatha, was built around 1026 by Vimal Shah, minister of the Chaulukya king Bhima I. The Luna Vasahi, honouring Neminatha, was completed by 1230 under the minister brothers Vastupala and Tejpal.

Alauddin Khalji's army sacked the temples in 1311 and they were repaired from 1321 onward. The Pittalhar temple was then built, the three-storey Parshvanatha temple followed in 1458 and 1459, and the Mahavira temple was added in 1582; Sirohi painters decorated it in 1764.