Vimala Vasahi Temple is one among the five ancient Jain temples situated at
Dilwara. It is just 2.5 km from
Mount Abu, the only hill station in
Rajasthan. It is the first Jain temple of Dilwara built by Vimal Shah, a minister of Raja Bhimdeo, in 1021 AD. The temple enshrines a beautiful gold-brass alloy idol of
Adinath, the first of 24 Jain
Tirthankars.
Vimala Vasahi Temple resembles the
Kashmiri Sun Temple at
Martand. The entire temple is carved out of white marble. The temple stands in an open courtyard defined by 58 subordinate cells containing small icons bearing Adinath’s image as in the main shrine. Most noteworthy feature of the temple is its richly carved circular ceiling in 11 concentric rings. The ceiling is richly carved with elaborate designs of lotus-buds, petals, flowers, geometrical designs and scenes depicting incidents from the Jain and Hindu mythologies.
Abu Road Railway station, on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Ajmer-Jaipur-Delhi route, is the nearest railhead.
