Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga

Ujjain, known in the Puranas as Avantika and Ujjayini, was one of the great cities of ancient India: capital of the Avanti kingdom, a seat of learning and astronomy, and one of the seven sacred cities (Saptapuri). The shrine of Mahakala is praised in the Puranas, above all in the Avanti Khanda of the Skanda Purana, and in the Mahabharata. Kalidasa, describing Ujjayini in the Meghaduta, asks the cloud to linger at the shrine of Mahakala for the evening worship with drums and dancers.

Under the Paramara kings of Malwa (roughly the 10th to 13th centuries) Ujjain remained a major religious centre, and Mahakala was its most important temple. In 1234–35, during Sultan Iltutmish's raid on Ujjain, the temple complex was destroyed. According to tradition the Jyotirlinga was hidden in the Kotiteerth Kund, the pond beside the temple, and its jaladhari (base) was carried away. Later Delhi sultans, including Jalaluddin and Alauddin Khalji, also attacked Ujjain.

After the Marathas established their rule over Malwa in the 1730s, Ujjain regained its standing and became the capital of the Scindia state until the early 19th century. Ramachandra Baba Sukthankar (also spelled Shenvi), the Diwan of Ranoji Scindia, rebuilt the temple in the 18th century, the Jyotirlinga was reconsecrated, and the tradition of the Simhastha bathing festival on the Shipra was revived. The present multi-storeyed temple largely dates from this Maratha rebuilding.

In the 20th century the temple was expanded for growing numbers of pilgrims: the main gate was widened before the Simhastha of 1968, and a large sabha mandap was built by the Birla group before the 1980 Simhastha. The temple is administered by the Shri Mahakaleshwar Mandir Prabandh Samiti, a committee constituted under Madhya Pradesh state law and chaired by the Ujjain district collector.

On 11 October 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the first phase of 'Shri Mahakal Lok', a corridor of more than 900 metres linking the temple with the Rudrasagar lake. It features a colonnade of 108 carved sandstone pillars, fountains and murals of stories from the Shiva Purana, and has greatly changed how pilgrims approach the temple. Ujjain is preparing for its next Simhastha, due in 2028.

The temple stands in a spacious walled courtyard beside the Kotiteerth Kund and close to the Rudrasagar lake. It rises in several storeys, one of them below ground level, crowned by a tall, richly carved shikhara in the North Indian tradition, largely from the 18th-century Maratha rebuilding. According to one account the temple's footprint is about 10.77 m square and it rises about 28.71 m. Brass lamps light the way down to the underground garbhagriha where Mahakal resides.

The Mahakal linga faces south and is swayambhu (self-manifested). Images of Ganesha, Parvati and Kartikeya are placed to the west, north and east of the sanctum, with Nandi to the south. Directly above the Mahakal sanctum is a second shrine with the linga of Omkareshwar Mahadev, and on the third storey is the shrine of Nagchandreshwar, an image of Shiva and Parvati seated on a serpent, opened for darshan only on Nag Panchami.

The courtyard contains many smaller shrines, including that of Goddess Avantika, the guardian goddess of Ujjain, behind the Palki Dwar near the Ram temple. Since 2022 the approach has been through the Mahakal Lok corridor, with its 108-pillar colonnade, large statues and murals depicting the Shiva Purana.