Adhar Devi Temple

Adhar Devi Temple is a shrine to the goddess Durga inside a natural cave on a rocky hill at Mount Abu, in Sirohi district. Unlike the marble temples of the area, the sanctum keeps its bare rock walls, so chanting and the sound of bells ring off the stone, and the hilltop looks out over the wooded valleys around the town.

Getting there takes effort. A long flight of steps, said to equal the number of days in a year, climbs the hill, and the noise of the town fades as the air cools. The final stretch is a tight cleft in the rock that pilgrims must stoop or crawl through before reaching the small lamp-lit chamber where the goddess sits. The cave is busiest during the spring and autumn Navratri festivals, in March or April and in September or October, when it fills with hymns, incense and devotional music. In the monsoon the steps can become slippery.