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[Holy Abu
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(5) The Garden.
Near Kapurasagara lake, by the road side, is an old stepwell whose water is used by people for drinking, it being available in all seasons. By the side of the step-well (vavaḍi) is a small garden kept by the Karkhānā for growing flowers for daily worship in the temples. (6) Shrine of Achaleshvara Mahadeva.
The temple of Achaleshvara Mahadeva at the foot of the hill, though a plain structure, is an ancient Hindu site.1 The Hindus believe that Achaleshvara Mahadeva is the superintending deity of the Mount Abu. The god was worshipped as the tutelary deity by the Paramāra chiefs of Abu and later also by its Chauhāņa rulers.
As already noted, the shrine is enclosed in a very wide compound. There are besides other smaller shrines, a stepwell and the Mandakini kuṇḍa in the compound and adjacent to it. The main shrine of Achaleshvara Mahadeva is composed of a mūlagarbhagṛha, and a sabhāmaṇḍapa. In front of it is a chokī with a small dome. In the northern wall of the big sabhāmaṇḍapa is another entrance door which is kept closed but opened only in honour of a great donor. The temple faces the west.
According to Hindu traditions the temple is a very ancient one which underwent numerous repairs. 2 Here in
1 Shri Durgashanker K. Shastri, in his paper on "ĀbuArbudagiri" (in Gujarātî, pub. in "Gujrat ", Vol. XII. No. 2) suggested that this was originally a Jaina temple. (This inference is possibly due to the use of stones of some old Jaina shrine in later repairs of the compound etc. This is obvious to any visitor and the inference of Shastri does not seem to be correct-Translator).
2 In c. 1377 V. S., Maharav Lumbha, the Chauhāņa ruler of Chandravati repaired the Sabhamaṇḍapa and placed in it
