Mount Abu
This branch of the Paramāras held the Abu massif and the plain below it, ruling from Chandrāvatī, a city now vanished. Mount Abu carries a particular weight in Rajput tradition: the Agnikula origin myth, in which four clans are born from a fire pit prepared by the sage Vasiṣṭha on the mountain, is set there, and the Paramāras are the first of the four.
The myth appears in texts from the twelfth century onward and is generally understood as a later charter of legitimacy rather than a record of origin.
Dilwara
The Vimala Vasahi temple at Dilwara was built in 1031 by Vimala Shah, a minister of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, and the Lūṇa Vasahi in 1230 by the brothers Vastupāla and Tejapāla. Both were raised in territory under Paramāra authority.
They are among the supreme achievements of Indian architecture in marble: plain outside, and within, ceilings, pillars and doorways carved to a depth and fineness that has to be seen to be credited — lotus pendants cut almost free of the stone, and figured friezes running through every surface. The building tradition they belong to, Māru-Gurjara, spread across western India and is still in use for temple construction today.
The dynasty gave way in the thirteenth century to the Deora Chauhans, who founded Sirohi.
Further reading
- Michell, George. The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press, 1988
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Blurton, T. Richard. Hindu Art. Harvard University Press, 1993
- Davis, Richard H. Lives of Indian Images. Princeton University Press, 1997
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.