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Hindu Sites and Places of Interest)
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silhoutted against the setting sun with the fore-ground of the white sheet of water (fig. 60).
The local municipality has prohibited fishing or washing and cleaning on the ghāts near the camp-bazar or the temples on its banks. Arrangements are made for visitors to enjoy boating in the lake, at small cost.
To the east of the Nakhi is the Palace of the King of Jodhpur State, to its south-west the Jayapur-Palace, a beautiful lofty building on the mount. There are besides temples of Shri Raghunāthji and Duleshvara-Mahādeva on its banks. It is said that formerly there existed a Jaina temple also on one side of the lake. ( 27 ) Temple (Mandir) of Shri Raghunathji.
On the south-western bank of the Nakhi is the temple of Raghunāthji well-known to pilgrims and tourists on Mount Ābu. A mahant in charge of it provides for meals to Hindu monks staying here and a big-rest house for Vaishṇavas is maintained. Quarters are rented in the summer season to visitors to the Mount and boarding arrangemeuts are also available. Almost all fecilities are available for Hindu pilgrims in this shrine, which is one of the chief centres for followers of the sect of Rāmānanda, a great monk who lived in the fourteenth century A. D. 1
1 According to Rāmānanda Digvijaya ( sarga 14, verses 45-47 ) composed by Bhagavadāchārya Brahmachari, Svāmi Shri Rāmānanda (C. 1300-1449 A. D. ) once visited mount Ābu where he met a sage, Bhalindasūnu by name, who had with him an image of Shri Raghunāthji (Rāma ) and who was practising austerities on this mount. Here Svāmi Rāmānandji built a shrine and installed in it the image noted above. It is said that the image now in worship is the one installed by this great Hindu monk. The temple is, therefore, known as the shrine of Shri Raghunăthji. (Since the writing of this book by Muni Jayantavijaya, the mahanta has rebuilt the shrine though the image worshipped is the same-Translator.)
