Last week, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma announced the renaming of Mount Abu to Abu Raj.
Within the BJP — especially after the party formed the state government in December 2023 — there had been a growing demand to ‘preserve’ the religious nature of the state’s only hill station, located in western Rajasthan.
At the same time, local hotel and business associations have been saying that renaming it and imposing restrictions on the sale of liquor and meat will strip the place of its vibrant tourist culture and shift it towards a religious site.
The issue of religious sentiments concerning Mount Abu isn’t exactly new. As far back as 1959, then Phulera MLA, P K Chaudhri, had asked in the Legislative Assembly whether the government plans to do away with prohibition on liquor in Mount Abu, to which Finance Minister Hari Bhau Upadhyaya had said that there were no such plans.
What did the CM say?
Replying to the Budget debate in the Assembly on February 27, CM Sharma said, “While pursuing development, we are also committed to preserving our heritage. In response to public sentiment, I announce that Mount Abu will be renamed Abu Raj, Jahazpur will be renamed Yagyapur, and Kaman will be renamed Kamvan.”
The CM’s office had been considering the move at least since late 2024. In April 2025, the Local Self Government (LSG) department wrote to the Mount Abu municipal commissioner, seeking comments on renaming it to Aburaj Teerth and prohibiting open consumption of meat and liquor. It also cited CM’s letters to the department in this regard.
What have been the demands within the BJP?
Last month, Minister of State Otaram Dewasi had written a letter to CM Sharma ahead of the state Budget, demanding the renaming of Mount Abu “in view of the requests made from time to time by the intelligentsia of the entire state including Sirohi district.”
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Dewasi, a mahant, is an MLA from the Sirohi Assembly seat, which is adjacent to Mount Abu. He said that Mount Abu has been “a centre of faith of Sanatan Dharma since ancient times; many sages and saints had performed penance here, many historical ancient temples and world class tourist places established by them are still situated here.”
“Devotees from all over the world keep coming to visit them. Earlier the name of this place was Aburaj Teerth but the then ruling government changed its name to Mount Abu. Presently, due to the sale of meat in meat shops in the open and drinking of liquor in open places, the devotees coming here get religiously hurt after seeing these scenes,” he said.
Before him, the saffron-clad Mahant Pratap Puri, also the Pokaran MLA and a BJP leader, made similar demands in the Assembly in March last year.
He said that Abu Raj used to be a pilgrimage site. “If you can’t visit the pilgrimage sites across India, then just visit Abu Raj instead; it is the abode of all the gods and goddesses.” But now, he said, if we travel “through the mountains of Abu Raj, we see broken liquor bottles lying everywhere, injuring our wildlife. Therefore, drinking alcohol in public should be banned in Abu Raj. Abu Raj is a religious city, and therefore, meat and meat shops should be completely prohibited there.”
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Beyond the BJP, various organisations and outfits, such as the Karni Sena, too, had demanded a name change. However, the Opposition Congress party has been largely quiet on the issue. However, Sanyam Lodha, former Congress MLA from Sirohi and former advisor to Ashok Gehlot during his tenure as CM, welcomed the move.
Profusely thanking CM Sharma and the officials, Lodha said that history had been made. “Abu Raj is the voice of every individual from the land of Marwar, the land of Abu has been inspired since ancient times by the penance of saints and great souls, where every particle resonates with Shankar.”
What are the local hotel and business associations saying?
After the LSG letter became public last year, as many as 23 associations and organisations of hotels, traders, local businesses, caste outfits, etc., had protested and written to the CM, opposing the move.
Criticising the renaming, Saurabh Gangadia, secretary of Mount Abu Hotel Association (MAHA), said that the decision was taken to make certain people happy, “There was no need for this. They have changed the name, but everything else is as it is.” He said that the move was “not farsighted, very immature, and taken in haste,” adding that if the government wanted to rename it, it should have first transformed it into a religious site with all the prerequisites.
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Asked about potential restrictions on liquor and meat, he said that “If that happens, then it will be finished as a tourist destination. Only religious tourism will remain then; people will arrive, go for darshan, but won’t stay overnight. We will be deprived of the tourists.”
He said that Mount Abu sees around 30-35 lakh tourists every year, with over 80% from Gujarat, which is a dry state. Yusuf Khan, president of the Hotel Association of Mount Abu (HAMA), too said that Mount Abu sees 30-40 lakh tourists visiting annually. “Changing the name doesn’t make any difference. They want to prohibit liquor and meat here; people consume Rs 100 crore worth of liquor here annually, so, this will be a loss of revenue for the government,” Khan said. His association represents about 120 hotels.
Khan said that the number of tourists has been declining and the administration should address that concern first by further developing Mount Abu. “We have seen a decline in tourists in 2024, then in 2025, due to lack of basic facilities such as parking. They are opting for other places, such as Kumbhalgarh, Udaipur and in winters, Jaisalmer,” he said.
What is the etymology of Mount Abu?
Mount Abu was termed as the “Olympus of Rajasthan” by the British military officer James Tod in his book ‘Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan’. According to the state government, it can be traced back to the Puranas and was known as “Arbudaranya” or “the forest of Arbhuda” in the Puranic Age, where it is described as serving as a retreat for Sage Vashistha, following his disagreement with Sage Vishwamitra.
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A popular mythology associated with Mount Abu mentions a serpent named Arbhuda, who had saved the life of Nandi, Lord Shiva’s mount, here. The name “Mount Abu” is a diminutive of its original name, which was kept after Arbhuda.
Another legend suggests that Sage Vashistha had performed a yajna at the peak of this very mountain range, seeking provision for the defence of righteousness on Earth, from the Gods. His prayer was answered by a youth who sprang out of the yajna fire, known to be the first of the Agnivasha Rajputs.
Mount Abu houses several temples: Guru Shikhar, the highest point in the Aravalli Range, houses the Guru Dattatreya temple, an incarnation of the Divine Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). This temple is said to have been constructed in the 14th century. Notable Jain temples include the Dilwara Jain temple, established sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries, said to be among the finest Jain temples in the world.
