Mt. Abu

Mt. Abu and Jain temple

After another 3 hours in the van we started climbing a very twisty narrow road into the mountains.  The mountains are all very dry and arid. In between worrying about the oncoming traffic  we wondered what kind of resort could they have here.  Turns out that when you get to the top there is a green oasis and a lake with pedal boats, swan boats and all the trappings of a lake resort.  

They have myths about everything here and the one about the creation of the lake involved a beautiful girl, her mother and a magician.  The mother didn't want the magician to marry the daughter so she made a challenge: if the magician could dig a lake with his fingernails overnight he cold marry the daughter.  By midnight the lake was half-done and the mother saw that she would lose her daughter to the magician so she got a rooster to crow, causing the magician to stop work because he thought it was almost dawn.  When he found he had been deceived he turned both the women to stone.  There is a rock formation nearby that resembles the two women.  The Hindi name for the lake is "Fingernail Lake".  

The town of Mt. Abu didn't really exist before the British came in the 1800's, liked the cooler climate and established a "hill station" here where they could escape the heat of the desert below.  Before tat it had been a holy site with ashrams and temples.  The British made it their sumer capital for Rajisthan and the various maharajas built summer homes here: generally they got along very well with the Brits.  Our hotel was the "cottage" of the Maharaja of Jaipur whose main palace we visited in that city. 

We were virtually the only non-Indians in the town.  When we got to the Jain temples just outside of town we were the only whites.  We were the subject of a lot of stares and some "Hello, how are you" approaches from kids.  Our guide explained that, unlike the temples in Ranakpur,  it was very unusual for Europeans or Americans to come here. There were thousands in the temple.  Many were in all white with something looking like a medal on their chests.  They are members of a non-sectarian peace movement that has a large center there.  It has many in the U.S. including Watertown, MA!!

The main temple was built in 1031 and the second in 1231.  They have similarities to the temple in Ranakpur but some different architectural details due to influences of moslem and other cultures.  Sorry, no pictures allowed due to the congestion it would create with so many people in the temple.  Our excellent guide explained that some of the Hindu gods and figures included in the carvings are there not because the Jains believed in Hindu gods (they think there may be a god or maybe not, no one knows) but because: 1. It would help get converts or 2. The hindus would be less likely to destroy the temple because representations of their gods were in it.  Either way they were beautiful.  Here is a similar carving from Ranakpur.

After our visit Dalpat took us to a small craft shop and explained that he had started life in the higher "warrior" caste but that through questions from tourists when he started as a guide 14 years ago he began to investigate the legacy of the caste system and eventually started an orgaization to help young girls in the surrounding villages get an education and change their lives.  We bought a couple of CD's to help support them and look forward to receiving information about possibly sponsoring one.

After dinner we were quite adventurous and walked down into town.  Turns out that it was a fun scene, with families walking around, tourist shops open, and yes, several soft-serve ice cream shops.