A Day Well Spent In Ujjain by Srashti Soni

The Mahakal temple is very near to the Ujjain bus stand. After reaching the Mahakala temple area by 8 am we took breakfast there, there were so many restaurants and hotels. Then we entered the divine temple of lord Shiva. And all our wait turned into pleasure when we saw the mesmerising mahakal shivling in garbhgraha. 
The Mahakal Darshan filled us with all positivity. All devotees cannot enter the garbhgraha and they can see the deity from the outside boundaries of the garbhgraha. Seeing the divine jyotirlinga is free but VIP darshan is also available for just 250 INR. 
We missed the mahakal bhasma aarti which takes place every day at 4 am in the early morning. If you are willing to attend bhasma aarti then you have to register yourself online on the official website of Mahakal temple. Then we visited the nearby temples that are Dwarkadheesh and Nageshwar temples. Then we started our journey to the kaalbhairav temple. 
 

There is a saying that mahakal darshan is incomplete without visiting the kaalbhairav temple. Kaalbhairav temple is dedicated to the deity kaalbhairav who is considered the guardian deity of the city. With hundreds of devotees, we waited in a queue to offer liquor(liquor is one of the offerings) to the deity. Isn't it amazing? a deity whose offering is liquor and there is no clue where this liquor offering is going, yes it can only happen in our incredible and holy India.

Okay coming back to the story, We saw so many monkeys there and devotees offering sweet prasad to them. Around 11 am we reached Chintamani Ganesh mandir which is situated 8km from the Kaal Bhairav temple.
 

 I have always wanted to visit this temple as it is famous for the three ancient murtis of lord Ganesha. There is a saying that lord Ganesha got rid of Brahma's chintas(worries) that is why he is known as Chintamani Ganesh.

The darshan of lord Ganesh filled us with so much positivity. There were so many shops of modak, laddus (offerings of lord Ganesha) and religious and spiritual items shop. 
After visiting this holy place we went for lunch near the Chintamani Ganesh temple. There is a no. of dine-in restaurants that offer delicious food. After having our meal around 2 pm we went to mangal Nath temple which is 15 km from the Chintamani Ganesh temple. It took us half n hour to reach there.

By 3 pm we were at the mangalnath temple. Mangalnath temple has its historical significance. Mangalnath temple is dedicated to lord Mahadev and is located on the banks of kshipra. It is an active temple and is visited by hundreds of devotees daily.

Temple remains open from 5 am to 10 pm. Mangalnath temple is regarded as the birthplace of mars planet and due to the clear view of this planet from the temple, it has a great significance in astronomical studies.

Those people who have mangal dosh in their Kundli come here for the  Manglik dosh nivaran pooja. The walls of this temple are made up of red marble which signifies the red colour of mars. After spending our time in the positive vibes of mangalnath temple we moved to another place. And our next destination was the Bhartrihari caves. We reached bhartrihari caves by 5 pm. 

It is the place where great Sanskrit poet Bhartrihari the stepbrother of Vikramaditya lived and meditated after renouncing their worldly life. He was a great scholar. We had to go deep below the ground. With an extremely cool and peaceful interior, these caves took us to the era of the 11th century. A narrow route took us to cave no 1, where the curved statue of Bharitrahi is placed for visitors. If one is willing to go to Ujjain then Bhartrhari is a must-visit place because a great experience is waiting for them. 
Visiting these caves feels like travelling to a different era. 7 pm is the closing time of this tourist place. There is one more place adjacent to these caves Gadkalika Mata mandir which is our next place to visit. 

Gadkalika Mata temple is the famous shakti peeth of India where thousand of devotees arrived every year during the Navratri. Gadkalika Mata temple is devoted to the goddess Kalika. This is the place where the great poet Kalidas got his boon from Kalika Devi. Once an ordinary person Kalidas became a great scholar after getting the blessings of the goddess.

We had the pleasant darshan of maa Kalika. All these places were full of divine energy. And after visiting this place we went to our last destination which is ram ghat.

By 7 pm we reached Ramghat. Ramghat is the bathing ghat on the banks of river kshipra. Aarti starts every day at 6.30 pm but we were half an hour late although we attended the remaining aarti of Maa kshipra. We were able to see the splendid view of lights on the river kshipra. We have never thought that our Ujjain trip will end with this glorifying and nourishing experience of this holy river Kshipra and with this I will add the evening aarti of kshipra river one of the best attractions in Ujjain.

After the aarti, we caught the bus from the Ujjain bus stand and took a sigh of satisfaction after spending our day well. I am mentioning the total cost of our Ujjain trip.

Bus fare(from Indore to Ujjain) - 150 INR each
Full-day cab price - 1575 INR
Other expenses - 500