Mount Abu (Arbuda)

01Vasishtha’s mountain

The Navasahasankacharita, written by Padmagupta at the Paramara court of Malwa around 1005, tells how the rishi Vasishtha, whose cow had been stolen by Vishvamitra, offered into his fire on Mount Arbuda and a hero sprang from it who won the cow back; he was named Paramara, slayer of the enemy, and from him the Paramara kings descended. Gaumukh, below the hill, is shown as the site of the ashram. The Devi is worshipped as Arbuda Devi in a cave temple high on a cliff, and Achaleshwar Mahadev at Achalgarh is worshipped through the mark of Shiva’s toe, with a brass Nandi before it. Guru Shikhar, at 1,722 metres the highest point of the Aravallis, has a shrine of Dattatreya on its top.

02Paramaras, Jains and Kasahrada

A branch of the Paramaras ruled Abu and Chandravati at its foot as feudatories of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat. Under their protection Vimal Shah built the Vimal Vasahi at Dilwara in 1031, and Vastupala and Tejapala the Luna Vasahi in 1230. In 1178 Muhammad of Ghor came through the desert to attack Gujarat. At Kasahrada, near the foot of Abu, the army of the boy king Mularaja II, led by his mother Naiki Devi with the Paramara Dharavarsha of Abu and the Chahamanas of Nadol, broke the invaders. The fort of Achalgarh on the hill was renewed by Rana Kumbha of Mewar in 1452.

The life of this place