If marble could sing its melody would be the delicate beauty of the Delwara Jain temples. And its words would be of the thousands of artisans and laborers and the decades of their lives they devoted to carving the pillars, walls and ceilings of white marble – thousands upon thousands of individual flowers, geometric shapes, gods, goddesses, great men and scenes from Hindu mythology. Perhaps a chorus or two would be devoted to the elephants, prominently represented, that carried the marble on their backs 14 miles from the quarry. If marble could sing and if Mount Abu was on the road to anyplace, Delwara, not the Taj Mahal, might be one of the Seven New Wonders of the World; it is that marvelous! Nothing we have seen in Christendom, none of eht European cathedrals, nor anything in the Islamic world is as beautiful as Delwara, the only exception being Bernini's marbles. Photography is strictly verboten; all of the photos in our journal were copied from the guidebook we bought at the site.
Meticulously carved, each unique
Jainism is the 6th Century BC, ultra-conservative Hindu offshoot opposed to the caste system. Some adherents cover their mouths with cloth to prevent inhaling insects and inadvertently killing them. Others actually sweep the path ahead of them clear of insects so they don’t accidentally step on them. Mount Abu is both a citadel of Jainism and a hill station for those, past and present, wishing to avoid the summer heat. Cows roam the streets freely, secure in the knowledge that Mt. Abu is totally vegetarian. Even belts and watchbands must be removed before entering the temple complex and menstuating women can not enter. Paradoxically, booze flows freely, attracting visitors from dry Gugarat.
Rufous treepie
Heat wasn’t the issue for us. Mount Abu sits 3600 feet above sea level and is reached by a serpentine road with truly frightening switchbacks. The early morning temperature dropped to just a few degrees above freezing as we birded in the surrounding Mt. Abu Wildlife Sanctuary. Again it was wonderful to walk freely and completely alone, searching the trees for new species. Though we haven't seen them around town, it seems we aren't the only Westerners in town; a Brit came in on the bus with us and a Canadian signed in on the trail register late yesterday.
