It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The holy city of Ujjain is located in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. Geographically, Malwa forms a distinct region, consisting of a vast lava plateau. Its abundant natural wealth, its ideal location at the confluence of principal trade routes, its strategic military importance as a base for striking at Rajasthan and the Deccan, and its easy accessibility to greedy & barbaric Muslim invaders, all these have meant that Malwa has attracted, and been forced to assimilate, people of diverse origins. And yet it has remained a distinct cultural region: its people share a common sense of identity, a language known as Malwi (normally classified as a dialect of Rajasthani), and a colourful history preserved in popular songs, stories, and anecdotes. As the principal cultural and often-time political capital of Malwa, Ujjain has served as the centre-stage of the region’s history.
Popularly known as Ujjayini, Avanti, Avantika and Avantikapuri, this majestic city is located on the eastern shore of the Kshipra River. It’s one of the oldest living cities in the world. It’s antiquity and significance can easily be understood by the fact that Five-and-a- half centuries before Christ, when Lord Buddha preached his first sermon in the Deer Park (Mrigdaav) at Sarnath, it was already an established commercial centre standing at the junction of three major trade routes. It was the most important stopping place on the Southern Road (Daksinapatha) linking the northern city of Rajgriha (Rajgir), capital of Magadha, with the Deccan regions in the south. Another route connected Ujjain and the western seaport of Bharukaccha (Bharuch), and from there to the Mediterranean.
Ujjain finds mention in several ancient historical and religious scriptures. Greek geographer Ptolemy (2nd Century AD) has mentioned Ujjain as ‘Ozene’. Even a century prior to Ptolemy, a guide book for seamen, the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, was written in Greek language. It describes in detail that onyx stones, fine muslins, and large quantities of cotton piece goods were exported from ‘Ozene’ via the port of ‘Barygaza’. Skand Puran (स्कन्द पुराण) devotes a long section to enumerate the sacred spots of Ujjain, adding that it is necessary to spend a whole year making a tour of the region. There are, for example, eighty-four-thousand Shiva lingams, of which eighty-four are enumerated and described individually in the text.
Being located at trade route is not the only reason of Ujjain’s importance in Indian history and culture. The city is considered as the Indian Greenwich for its geographical position. Sawai Raja Jai Singh II had built an observatory here. Ujjain is associated with famous astronomers like Aryabhatta and Varahamihir. The city occupies a central position also in a cosmographical sense. The Skand Puran describes Ujjain as a spiritual centre of India. The nature and significance of sacred geographies in Hindu ritual contexts is potentially a rich field of study. The conceptual correspondences between the body, temple, city, and cosmos in rituals performed by Tamil-speaking Hindus in south India, stress on the idea that in certain rituals the body and the cosmos are thought actually to merge, or else to come as close as possible to a merger, depending on the absoluteness of the ‘monist’ position; likewise, some of the more popular and important beliefs regarding the position of Ujjain in a universal context.
A Sanskrit couplet lists Avantika as one of the Seven Sacred Cities of the Hindus, along with Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Haridwar), Kashi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and Dwarka. All these cities are said to have the capacity to grant liberation (moksha - मोक्ष) to those who worship at their sacred spots and who bathe in their sacred waters. In normal years Ujjain attracts fewer pilgrims than most of its sacred counterparts; but its popularity rises dramatically once every twelve years when it becomes the auspicious venue for India’s greatest religious festival, the Kumbha Mela. The festival is held here in the month of Vaishakh (April-May). The festival brings commercial and numerous other benefits to the city.
The object of the greatest reverence in the holy city of Ujjain is the Jyotirlingam (ज्योतिर्लिंग) of Lord Mahakal (Lord Shiva). Bowing before the Lord in devotion is the usual form of spiritual submission in front of the divine. The Jyotiriingams have an exalted position in the Sanatana Dharma (सनातन धर्म). Literally the word ‘lingam’ means phallus. The Shiv Purana describes it: “The distinctive sign through which it is possible to recognize the nature off someone is called a linga.” But the Linga Purana tells us that the holiest of the holy Lord Shiva is signless (sexless), without colour, taste or smell, beyond word and touch, without quality, changeless, motionless. This unmanifest being can be perceived only through his creation, which is his phallus or lingam. The existence of the unqualified substratum is known and worshiped only through this sign. The lingam or the phallus, the giver of life is one of the shapes which represent the nature of the shapeless. Lord Shiva as the undivided causal principle is worshiped in the lingam. His more manifest aspects are represented in anthropomorphic images. All other deities are part of a multiplicity and are thus worshiped as images. The symbol of the Supreme Man (Purusha - पुरुष), the formless, the changeless, the all-seeing eye, is the symbol of masculinity, the phallus or lingam. The Mahakal Temple at Ujjain is one of the four sacred Jyotiriingams in India. Devotees of Lord Shiva throng here at all times, and also make it a point to be there during the Simhastha. Simhastha pilgrims also worship other Gods and Goddesses at the 109 major temples in and around Ujjain with Lord Mahakal attracting the largest number of devotees. A holy dip (Snan – स्नान) in Kshipra and the ‘darshan’ (दर्शन) of Lord Mahakal come first to all of them.
India is known for unity in diversity. Peaceful co-existence among the worshippers of an extensive pantheon is a hallmark of Indian, primarily, Hindu society. It reflects in every aspect of life and quite prominently in the majority temples. Most of the temples in Ujjain are nonsectarian. There are though some specialized sect-affiliated temples also. Mahakal Temple, Gopal Temple and Harsiddhi Temple, the three most visited shrines, belong to three different sects – Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism respectively but their worshippers are not drawn exclusively from one or another of these general tendencies. The followers of these sects visit the temples of other sects too. For instance, a worshipper might attend Gopal Mandir regularly and regard himself or herself as a Vaishnava, even though he or she visits Mahakal and Harsiddhi on several or numerous occasions each year. In this respect, it is significant that Harsiddhi Devi is revered by Vaishnavas as well as Shaivas and Shaktas, for when Lord Shiva danced with Sati’s corpse; it was actually Vishnu who cut away her limbs, thereby causing her elbow to fall at Ujjain. In all, patterns of temple attendance are influenced by numerous variables. Because different deities tend to specialize in different forms of supernatural action, exercising different kinds and degrees of supernatural power, they are approached for a variety of reasons; family custom, illness and misfortune, worldly and material ambition, and individual preference, all play their part.
Thus, both sectarian and nonsectarian Hindus often visit a number of temples housing a variety of deities, while sectarian temples are not necessarily the exclusive preserve of sect initiates. There is no absolute correspondence between temple attendance and sectarian affiliation among Hindus. The majority of devotees who attend the Vallabha temples in Ujjain are initiates of the Sampradaya (संप्रदाय - Sect). But there are also many non-sectaries who visit to have ‘darshan’ of the deity, especially on festivals such as Holi, Phool Mandali, Janmastami and Annakut, attracted by the luxurious decorative and culinary displays for which the Vallabha temples are justly famous. Casual visitors are not discouraged, for them the Pushti Margi (पुष्टिमार्गी) temple is one among many temples. As for Pushti Margis, it would be fair to say that most tend to have regular recourse to Lord Krishna, and yet visit other deities on occasions, or they are more intimate with the child Krishna.