Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.253

c10.253

Mount Abu (*Arbudādri* or *Arbuda mountain*).—Here on the wall of the temple of Neminātha two of the Inscriptions of Somasimha are engraved (*E.I.*, VIII, 208ff.). Mount Abu is situated in the Aravalli range in the Sirohi State of Rajputana. It is as high as 5,650 ft. There are five Jaina temples and two of them are the most beautiful. The image of Lord Ṛṣabha was installed in a temple by Vimala Sāh, who saw many temples of God Śiva with eleven thousand worshippers on Mount Abu which once contained the hermitage of the sage Vasiṣṭha and the famous shrine of Ambā Bhabānī. There is a lake on this mountain. According to Megasthenes and Arrian, the sacred Arbuda or Mount Abu, which is identical with Capitalia, rises far above any other summit of the Aravalli range (McCrindle, *Ancient India*, p. 147). Formerly this mountain was called Nandivardhana. Later it was named Arbuda, being the habitat of the serpent Arbuda. There are twelve villages around it. Here flows a river named Mandākini. Here stand such sacred places as Acaleśvara, Vasiṣṭhāśrama and Śrīmātā. On the top of this mountain Kumārapāla of the Cālukya dynasty built the temple of Śrīvīra. For further details vide Law, *Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras*, pp. 184-185.