The Great Summit of Gurushikhar at Mount Abu in India

There are many beautiful sight seeing spots on the hill station of Mount Abu, which incidentally is my favorite hill station all of India. Mount Abu is situated in the State of Rajasthan in India. It is located among the mountain range of Arvalli. The best part of this hill station is that it is extremely easy and convenient to reach from all the major cities of the States, Gujarat and Rajasthan by all the three modes of transportation, by air, by rail and by road. I have visited Mount Abu number of times in my life. My most favorite place at Mount Abu is its highest peak, which is called Gurushikhar.

Gurushikhar is the highest point of the entire Arvalli Mountain range, situated at the height of around 5700 feet from the mean sea level. Very few tourists visit this point even today, as it is located at a remote place, situated around 12 miles away from the town center in the hilly area. One can hire a taxi and reach up to the base of this summit. Then, it would be required to climb around 650 steep steps to reach to the top of this Gurushikhar summit. The steps are slightly rough and most of them are having a height of around one and a half feet, making it slightly difficult to climb. There is an ancient temple of Lord Dattatreya at the top of this summit. It is said that Lord Guru Dattatreya performed very severe tapa here at this place. The footprints of the Lord Dattatreya are stored here at the temple in one underground cave in the temple. The tourists have to lie down and crawl a small distance of around 20 feet to reach up to the footprints of Lord Dattatreya. The inside atmosphere of this cave is very cool and quiet. All the tourists can have the view of the vast surrounding area from the top of this summit, covering the distance of around 10 miles. The railway line between Aburoad- Ajmer can be very easily seen from this summit on the clear day. There is one large size bell here made of brass, weighing around 6 MT at the top of summit. When this bell is rung, its sound can be heard in the area of around 15 miles. This bell was used in the ancient times as an alarm in case of the enemy attack. The evening arti ritual is really gorgeous at this temple. It is held at around 7 pm in the evening depending upon the time of the sunset. All the priests and almost all the tourists get down from this summit before it gets dark. This is in view of the danger of wild animals here in the forest all around this temple.

However, if you are an adventure lover, you must stay here at the top of Gurushikhar for at least one night. There are few sadhus, who stay here at the top of the summit. There is one dharmashala also that can provide you with the very basic and primitive facilities to stay. You can request the sadhus staying there for your dinner. They cook the bajri Rotlas and dal every day. And can serve you these items for dinner, may be at very nominal charges like Rs.10 (twenty five cents) per head. I have myself stayed here at the top of this summit twice in my life and have enjoyed my stay immensely. The night here at the top is very cold. The sounds of wild animals are heard all throughout the night. This stay would provide the unique experience of staying in the thick and dense forest, full of wild animals. Though, it is not recommended to all the tourists. However, if you have specific liking for such adventures, you shall surely enjoy it. It is however strongly suggested to be very careful and not to roam around in the forest at nighttime.

There is one large and efficient radar system installed on this summit by the defense department of Indian government. Nobody is allowed to go near this radar system due to security reasons. I am sure that many of my friends from USA must be visiting Mount Abu during their visit to India. However, my specific request to them would be to make at least one night halt at Gurushikhar, the highest summit of the Arvalli Mountain range as an adventure.