Omkareshwar Temple

Omkareshwar's sanctity is celebrated in the Skanda Purana, the Shiva Purana and the Vayu Purana, and the Narmada valley around Mandhata has been a place of pilgrimage for well over a thousand years. The island takes its name from King Mandhata of the Ikshvaku line, who according to tradition performed penance here.

No authentic record names the builder of the main temple or the date of its construction, as the temple trust itself notes. Historical tradition associates its early building with the Paramara rulers of Malwa in the 11th century. The temples of the area were certainly flourishing then: at the Mamleshwar temple on the south bank, Mahimna Stotra verses engraved on the walls are dated to 1063 CE. After the Paramaras, local Chauhan chiefs are said to have taken charge of the shrine.

The temple suffered during medieval invasions but was never completely destroyed. In the 18th century the Maratha period brought renewed patronage: the Holkars of Indore and the Scindias of Gwalior supported the worship, and Devi Ahilyabai Holkar is particularly associated with Mamleshwar, where she worshipped and where priests of the Holkar state have performed rituals ever since. These links survive in the daily routine: the morning worship at Omkareshwar is performed by the temple trust, the afternoon worship by priests of the Scindia family and the evening worship by priests of the Holkar family.

Until Independence the temple was the private property of the local ruling family, the Rao of Mandhata. On 11 August 1957 the last ruler, Raja Rao Saubhagya Singh, set up the Shri Omkareshwar Public Trust (now the Shri Omkareshwar Mandir Trust), and a Khandwa district court order of 19 January 1967 settled its constitution. The trust has seven trustees, with the Rao of Mandhata as managing trustee alongside nominees of the Registrar of Public Trusts and local bodies. The Mamleshwar temple is a protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India and is managed by the Ahilyabai Khasgi Trust.

In recent decades the Omkareshwar dam on the Narmada has transformed the landscape around the island. On 21 September 2023 the Madhya Pradesh government unveiled a 108-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya, the 'Statue of Oneness', on the Mandhata hill as the first phase of the Ekatma Dham project, which also includes a museum on his life and philosophy.

Pilgrims cross the Narmada by bridge or boat to the ghats of Mandhata island, about 4 km long and 2 km wide, and climb the steps to the temple, which stands a little above the river. The entrance is small and low, giving the feeling of entering a cave, and there is an image of five-faced Ganesha in the courtyard. The main temple is in the North Indian (Nagara) style with a high shikhara.

The temple combines an older and a newer structure. The older sanctum is a small shrine with a stone-layered dome and faces north, while the newer, larger part faces south, so the sanctum and deity do not line up with the main door or with the shikhara. The Omkareshwar linga is natural and uncarved, a small rounded stone that is always surrounded by water, with an image of Goddess Parvati nearby. The assembly hall, nearly 14 feet high, rests on 60 massive pillars.

The temple rises in five storeys, each with its own shrine: Omkareshwar on the first, Mahakaleshwar on the second (directly below the shikhara), Siddhanath on the third, Gupteshwar on the fourth and a flag-bearing deity (Dhwajeshwar) at the top. The upper ceilings carry interlocking octagonal designs.

Across the river, the Mamleshwar group of temples on the south bank is older in feel and plainer in style; it is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and carries the Mahimna Stotra inscriptions of 1063 CE on its walls.