Ujjain

City and sacred site (tirtha) on the
Shipra River in the state of Madhya
718
Udgatr
The Mahakaleshvar Temple in Ujjain.
It is dedicated to the god Shiva
in the form of the “Lord of Death.”
Pradesh, about 100 miles west of
Bhopal, the state capital. Ujjain is the
traditional center of the Malwa plateau
and has a long history as a commercial,
political, cultural, and sacred center. In
earlier times Ujjain was a major stop on
the central trade route, through which
goods from southern India were funneled to other places farther north. Just
before the common era, Ujjain is said to
have been the capital of King
Vikramaditya, after whom the Vikram
era was named. Vikramaditya’s stepbrother, Bhartrhari, reportedly renounced
the throne to become an ascetic but is
best known for his poetry. In later days
Ujjain was the de facto capital of the
Gupta ruler Chandra Gupta II (r.
380–414 C.E.), under whose patronage
the greatest Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa, is
said to have worked.
As a sacred center, Ujjain has multiple attractions, and this is its major
source of contemporary importance. It
is one of the Seven Sacred Cities of
India. Dying in one of these cities is said
to bring liberation. Every twelve years
Ujjain plays host to the bathing (snana)
festival known as the Kumbha Mela,
although the mela there is smaller than
the ones at Haridwar and Allahabad.
Given its history, Ujjain is studded with
important religious sites. The most
important site is the temple to Shiva
in his form as Mahakaleshvar, the
“Lord of Death.” Shiva is present at
Mahakaleshvar in the form of a linga,
the pillar-shaped image that is his symbolic form. The Mahakaleshvar linga is
one of the twelve jyotirlingas, a network
of sites deemed especially sacred to
Shiva and at which Shiva is uniquely
present. Ujjain is also famous for a temple associated with Matsyendranath,
the religious preceptor (guru) of
Gorakhnath, the founder of the
Nathpanthi ascetics. In addition, Ujjain
has a temple to the nine planets, as
well as one of the baithaks, a group of
108 sacred sites associated with the
life and activity of the philosopher
Vallabhacharya. Ujjain’s most unusual
site is the temple to the deity Kal
Bhairav. Kal Bhairav is another name for
Bhairava, a horrific form of Shiva,
and the traditional offering at the temple is liquor—a substance proscribed
and condemned by “respectable”
Hindus and thus the ideal offering for a
marginal deity such as Bhairava. See
also Gupta dynasty.