The Achaleshwar Mahadev Temple is a Shiva temple located just outside the Achalgarh Fort, in the Abu Road tehsil of Sirohi district, in Rajasthan, India. The temple is believed to have been constructed sometime in the 9th century AD, by the Paramara dynasty, which is also credited with having constructed the original Achalgarh Fort. Later the fort was reconstructed, renovated and renamed as Achalgarh Fort by Maharana Kumbha in 1452 AD.
The word ‘Achaleshwar’ is derived from the Sanskrit words ‘Achal’ meaning ‘immovable’, and ‘Ishwar’ meaning ‘God’.
The word ‘Mahadeva’, is an amalgamation of the words ‘great’ (maha) and ‘god’ (deva). It is an epithet of Shiva, the deity to whom the temple is dedicated. Legend says the temple was built around a toe print of Shiva, as such the thumb of Lord Shiva’s feet or toe is worshipped here. Lord Shiva is worshipped here in the form of a Shivalinga, a shape that looks like a nuclear reactor dome structure. It represents Shiva and his power of creation, seated on top of a surface, as an abstract representation of Shakti. The Shivalinga at this temple is a naturally occurring stone structure.
The Achaleshwar Mahadev temple stands in the centre of an enclosure on southern end of Agnikund, where there are several small shrines dedicated to Shiva’s mount, Nandi the bull. This includes a four (4) ton statue of Nandi bull made of ‘panchadhatu’, an alloy composed of five (5) different types of metals including copper, brass, gold, silver, and zinc. As per local legend, the massive Nandi statue is credited with protecting the Achaleshwar Mahadev temple from attacks of Muslim invaders.
It is said, innumerable bumble bees that were residing around the Nandi statue were launched onto the Muslim attackers. This helped to save the temple from total destruction. The temple also has several other idols dedicated to other gods and goddesses. Most of these idols are sculpted from quartz stone, which appears to be opaque in natural light but becomes crystal-like translucent when the light is shown on it. Inside the temple there is a pit, which is considered by locals as the doorway to hell or narak, the netherworld. Near the temple is a pond with three large stone statues of buffalos, who represent demons; killed by the king, Raja Adi Pal.
Over the years, the temple has been repaired and renovated many times. Unfortunately, a thick layer of lime was added over the intricate and fine filigree artwork and marble carvings of the temple, which resulted in the beauty of the temple being hidden for a long time to come from visitors. However, it ultimately became a boon in disguise, as it helped protect the fine marble from any kind of environmental damage over the years. However, in 1979, the crown prince of the former royal family of Sirohi princely state chanced upon a piece of marble exposed under the lime. The prince enthusiastically started repair and renovation work of the temple. He recruited number of skilled artisans who began the work to painstakingly restore the temple to its former glory.
The skilled artisan of Rajasthan not only removed the thick layers of lime to reveal the marble beauty. Pillars and columns of the temple were carefully removed, layer of lime, polished and then set back in correctly. During the renovation of the garbhagriha or sanctum sanctorum, it was revealed that this part of temple wasn’t built using marble slabs, instead huge blocks of marble was used. A circular path around the sanctum santorum, meant for parikrama, or the Hindu custom of circumambulation was also revealed during renovation. Sculptures of the Goddess Chamunda smeared with red vermillion, were also found that indicated these sculptures were regularly worshipped in their heydays before shoddy repair work covered them up.
The temple is open for devotees from 05:00 AM to 07:00 PM daily when the footfalls are in good numbers. But during with Shivaratri, and Maha Shivaratri, both being the most important festival related to Lord Shiva the footfall of pilgrims to the temple increases manifold. The nearest railway station is the Mount Abu Road railway station located at a distance of nearly 36 kms from Achaleshwar Mahadev Temple. The nearest airport is the Maharana Pratap Airport of Udaipur located at a distance of nearly 184 kms from Achaleeshwar Mahadev Temple.
Achaleshwar Mahadev Temple is located very near to Mount Abu, the only hill station in Rajasthan, which is also known as Ardhakashi due to presence of many ancient temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. According to Puranas, Varanasi is the city of Lord Shiva and Mount Abu its suburb. It is said that the mountain here is hinged on the toe thumb of Lord Shiva; if the toe thumb of Lord Shiva disappears, that day the mountain will be destroyed. The natural crater or pit in the temple is considered endless, no matter what the amount of water is poured, it never fills; where does water go is still a mystery.
There is also huge tree of Champa flower in front of the Achaleeshwar Mahadev temple. There is a Dharmakanta, on which the new ruler of the region used to sit and take oath of justice for people with blessings from Lord Shiva. A temple of Dwarkadhish is also built in the temple premises. Outside the temple, there are several black stone statues of all the incarnations of Lord Vishnu; namely Narsingh, Kachchhap, Parasurama, Vaaman, Krishna, Ram, Matsya, Buddha and Kalgi.
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