Babu Amichand Panalal Adishwarji Jain Derasar

High on Ridge Road, where Malabar Hill drops away towards the curve of Girgaum Chowpatty, a small white gateway opens onto one of Mumbai's quietest and most lavishly finished places of worship.

• The Babu Amichand Panalal Adishwarji Jain Derasar is a Shvetambara Jain temple built in the early twentieth century by a merchant family of the same name, and it is dedicated to Adinath — also called Adishwar or Rishabhanatha — the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras.
• Step through the entrance, leave your shoes at the rack, and the roar of the hill road simply stops.
• The interior is the reason people climb up here.
• Floors and columns are worked in pale marble, carved in the fine, almost lace-like idiom that Jain patrons have favoured for centuries, and the ceilings carry painted panels of the zodiac and celestial bodies alongside inlaid mirror and coloured glass that throws the daylight around in fragments.
• Silver and gilt detailing frames the sanctum, where the seated Adinath image is dressed and worshipped each morning.
• Sculpted elephants and guardian figures flank the approach, and a domed shikhara rises above the compound, visible from the road below.
• Treat a visit as a devotional occasion rather than a photo stop.
• Leather is not permitted inside, so leave belts, wallets, watch straps and bags of that material outside; food and drink stay out too.
• The community follows customary restrictions, including the usual request that menstruating women do not enter, and photography inside is generally discouraged — always ask an attendant first.
• Mornings, when the puja is under way, are the most rewarding and the coolest.
• The derasar sits within an easy walk of the Banganga Tank and Walkeshwar precinct, Kamala Nehru Park and the Hanging Gardens, which makes a natural half-morning circuit on foot.
• For vegetarian food afterwards, walk or ride down towards Walkeshwar Road and Teen Batti, where small Gujarati and Jain dining halls run fixed thali sittings at lunch — ask whether the kitchen is fully vegetarian, and whether Jain preparation without root vegetables is available, before you sit.
• Udupi-style counters around Babulnath and Kemps Corner serve idli, dosa and filter coffee through the day; most are vegetarian-only, but glance at the board and confirm.
• Downhill at Girgaum Chowpatty, the sand-side stalls specialise in bhelpuri, sev puri and pani puri — stalls vary, so choose a busy vegetarian-only counter and check before ordering.