Ujjain facts: where it is and what it is famous for

Mahakaleshwar. One of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva, worshipped here as Mahakal, the lord of time. The temple committee describes it as the only south-facing Jyotirlinga and the only Shivalinga where the Bhasma Aarti, the pre-dawn worship with sacred ash, is performed every day. The temple has three levels: Mahakal at the bottom, the Omkareshwar linga above, and Nagchandreshwar at the top, which opens only once a year, on Nag Panchami (6 August 2027, expected).

The Simhastha. By Puranic legend, Ujjain is one of the four places, with Haridwar, Nashik and Prayag, where drops of amrita spilled from the pot during the churning of the ocean, and so one of the four cities of the Kumbh Mela. Here it is called the Simhastha and held every twelve years; the next one: 27 March – 27 May 2028 (expected).

A sacred city. Ujjain is one of the Sapta Puri, the seven sacred cities of Hinduism, and is called a city of moksha. Shaivas, Vaishnavas and Shaktas all come here: besides Mahakal there are Harsiddhi, counted among the 51 Shakti Peethas, Kal Bhairav, where liquor is offered to the deity, and Sandipani Ashram, where by tradition Krishna, Balarama and Sudama studied. More on the temples of Ujjain page.

India's Greenwich. The district administration notes that Ujjain was the first meridian of longitude for Hindu geographers and that from about the 4th century BCE it was known as India's Greenwich. The observatory built by Sawai Jai Singh II in the early 18th century still computes the local almanac, by the India GO guide.

Kalidasa. The poet describes the riches of Ujjayini in the Meghaduta, and the city still holds the Akhil Bharatiya Kalidas Samaroh, a week of Sanskrit and Hindi drama, dance and music, each year.

Ujjain grew into the political and trading centre of the Malwa plateau around 600 BCE, as the capital of Avanti, one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Mauryas it was the capital of the western province, and Ashoka served as viceroy here before he became emperor; by tradition his children Mahendra and Sanghamitra, who took Buddhism to Sri Lanka, were born here. Kalidasa appears to have lived in the city in the Gupta age, and later legend made it the capital of King Vikramaditya.

In 1235 Iltutmish sacked Ujjain and demolished the Mahakaleshwar temple. The present temple was rebuilt in the 1730s by Ramchandra Baba Shenvi, diwan of the Maratha general Ranoji Shinde, and in 1731 Ranoji made Ujjain the capital of the Scindia state. When Daulat Rao Scindia moved his capital to Gwalior in 1810 and the British developed Indore, Ujjain lost its political weight but kept its place as a pilgrimage city.

Ujjain has no airport of its own; the nearest is Indore (IDR), about 55–58 km away, and the Ujjain airport page covers the transfer. The city is a railway junction: Ujjain Junction (UJN), about 2 km from Mahakaleshwar, takes night trains from Delhi and Mumbai and frequent trains from Indore and Bhopal. Details are on the Ujjain railway station page.