Behind the wheel & Contributor

Vinod Kumar...know more about me

Route map Ujjain - Omkareshwar

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Travelogue

The journey begins

Part 1 - Delhi - Tordi (350 kms/7.5 hrs) - View Travelogue here
Part 2 - Tordi - Kota (203 kms /6hrs) - View Travelogue
Part 3 - Ujjain (Mamaleshwar & Omkareshwar)

Kota - Ujjain distance - 261 kms/5hrs
Route - Kota - Jhalawar - Susner - Agar - Ujjain

Our stay in Ujjain was at Hotel Park Palace. We took the Premier deluxe triple room, it was huge with a double and a single cot. The rooms are neat, food was ok. The parking is big but the cars are parked one behind the other, so in case you have to take your car early morning do inform in advance. We faced the problem. There is a huge lawn in front of the hotel.

The evening we visit Mahakaleshwar, one of the 12 jyotirlings. No mobiles, belts purses etc are allowed so better keep everything in hotel. There is a locker for keeping the valuables just opposite the entry, but at times the queue goes too long. As no photographs are allowed, the temple being one of the jyotirlingas, has a aura and positivity of its own. The idol is dakshinamurti(ie facing the south). The temple has 5 levels one is underground. The walk to the temple is long and it takes you through corridoors with the pictures of the rest of the jyotirlingas. No photos allowed but found these in google search.

Mahakal


Mahakal temple


After darshan we walk to the Ram ghat, as the Simhastha kumbh was just over the roads were all well marked. There are numerous temples around the place, as we walk back we hire an auto to the hotel.

The next morning we visit Omkareshwar which is again a jyotirlinga. It is 136 kms from here. We start by 11 am and reach Omkareshwar by 2:45. Omkareshwar has a twin temple ie Omkareshwar and Mambaleshwar.

We park our car at the parking of Mambaleshwar temple, it is a bit inside so less cars turn up to this end. Mostly everyone park their cars at Omkareshwar. The roads are marked take the Mambaleshwar route, a little ahead, we reach the pay and use washroom, from there take left and go straight to reach the temple parking. We get a guide Dinesh who takes us through a parikrama of Omkareshwar temple. The Mambaleshwar temple is a small but powerful one, lots of shops around. Pujari's will flock you for pooja and quick darshan just be careful with them. One can cross from Mamaleshwar to Omkareshwar by a bridge called Mamaleshwar Setu, but the locals misguide you saying that its too far and you will have to walk a lot.

Mamleshwar temple










Way to ghats


The boats


Omkareshwar is on the other bank




Vinod has a chat with Dinesh






Dinesh takes us through the parikrama of the OM shaped mountain island, which is formed by two rivers, the Narmada and Kavuery. The confluence also known as the Triveni sangham has the Narmada, Kavery and the invisible Saraswati, there is a temple right at the tip, one can do puja here. The narmada river is gentle, but Kavuery is a bit rough. There are places where rapids were there, and so we had to alight and walk over. The temples in the island include Omkar Math, hanuman mandir, shiv pratima mandir, sadhna kutir of ramakrishna mission and so on. People also do this Parikrama of 5-6kms on foot.

The parikrama path, not clear picked from google


Pics of parikrama


Some temple enroute


The confluence of the two rivers, there are temples here too


Alight to pray and back on boat


Rapids area, we walk


Our boat wades through


Vinod doesn’t forget to click that too


Our boat at a distance


The dam


The guy charged us Rs 1500/- for the parikrama, Don't know if its more or less, still the boys put in a lot of effort to wade through the flow and the rapids. Vinod is always in support of paying the people around the village for their labour than putting in the bandara of temples.

It was nearly 4pm by the time we completed the parikrama, and so we hurried for darshan as the temple would be closing for half an hour. There is a long flight of steps to reach the temple, its slippery so should be careful. There is a cave where Adi Sankara meditated, it is accessible by stepping down the stairs, a little beyond the entrance of Omkareshwar.

Nandi at the entrance


The Omkareshwar temple queue


There was a moderate rush, still we make it to the shivling to have a good view and prayers, no offering of flowers or jal are allowed at this time, if you carry they just snatch and push you forward. By then as we descend the stairs, we spot the Aggarwal Bhojanalaya where we have lunch. After 4 the darshan queue is much less, Monday is crowded as advised by the locals.

Back we take the boat back, and reach hotel by 7:40

Eating options

Ujjain - Iskon Govinda's for tasty veg food
Near Mahakal temple - Apna Sweets - Try thali