Ujjain (also known as Ujain, Ujjayini, Avanti,Avantikapuri), is an ancient city of Malwa region in central I ndia, on the eastern bank of the Shipra River, today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh). It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division. This is the town from where concept of Zero and Trigonometry and its use has been spreaded all over the world. As mentioned in the Mahabharata epic, Ujjayini was the capital of the Avanti Kingdom It has been the first meridian of longitude for Hi ndu geographers since the 4th century BCE. Ujjain is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus, and the Kumbh Mela religious festival is held there every 12 years. It is also home to Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga, one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines to the god Shiva and is also the place where Lord Krishna got education with Balarama and Sudama from Maharshi Sandipani. Ujjain is well-connected by rail and road. It is on the Western Railway and is connected by direct train to most major Indian cities 1 / 7
History: The earliest references to the city, as Ujjaini, are from the time of the Buddha, when it was the c apital of the Avanti Kingdom. It is also reputed to have been the residence of Ashoka when he was the viceroy of the western provinces of the Maurya Empire. Subsequently, he became the emperor. The city was ruled by the Sungas and the Satavahanas consecutively in the Post-Mauryan period,. It was contested for a period between the Satavahanas and the Ror Sakas (devotees of Shakumbari), known as Western Satraps. After the Satavahana dynasty i.e. during 2nd to 12th century CE, the city was retained by the Rors. Following the enthroning of the Gupta dynasty, the city soon became an important seat in the annals of that empire. Ujjain was the traditional capital of King Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya. In the court of King Vikramaditya, nine poets known as the navaratna (nine jewels) of Sanskrit literature were flourished. Kalidas the great poet of the king Vikramaditya had narrative description of the then Ujjain in his masterpiece Meghadutam. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Ujjain was a major centre of mathematical and astronomical research. The famous mathematicians who worked there included Brahmagupta, whose book B rahmasphutasiddhanta was responsible for spreading the use of zero, negative numbers and the positional number system to Arabia and Cambodia; Varahamihira, who was the first to discover many trigonometric identities; and Bhaskaracharya, or 2 / 7
Bhaskara II, whose book Lilavati broke new ground in many areas of mathematics. Ujjain was invaded by the forces of the Delhi Sultanate led by Iltutmish in 1235, suffering widespread destruction and systematic desecration of temples During the last half of the 18th century Ujjain was the headquarters of the Maratha leader Sindh ia. T he Scindias later established themselves at Gwalior, and Ujjain remained part of Gwalior state until Indian Independence in 1947. Gwalior state became a princely state of the British Raj after the Maratha defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and Gwalior, Ujjain, and the neighboring princely states were made a part of the Central India Agency. After independence, the Scindia ruler of Gwalior acceded to the Indian Union and Ujjain became part of the Madhya Bharat state which was merged into the Madhya Pradesh state in 1956. Places of tourist interest: Ujjain is the temple city having thousands of temples around. Jains have also built a Glass Temple here. There is a Nabagraha Temple at Triveni ghat of Shipra, dedicated in the name of 9 planets (the Sun, the Moon, the Mars, the Mercury, the Venus, the Jupiter, the Saturn, the Rahu and the Ketu). 3 / 7
According to some legends, Ujjain is also one of the Sati piths as Sati s elbow fell down here after her body was chopped off in pieces by Vishnu. In the Buddhist manuscripts it has been described that the glorious period of Avanti was during the 6 th century BC. Avanti, Vaysya, Kaushal and Magadh these 4 mighty kingdoms were there at that time. In those time there was trade link between Ujjain, Mesopotemia & Egypt. Maharaja Jai Singh (Jaipur) became the Governor of Malwa and founded the Jantar-Mantar or Solar System Observatory on the bank of Shipra River, along with many temples in Ujjain. On the southern part of the city, along the bank of Shipra River, the main attraction of Ujjain is Mahakaleshwar Temple situated on the bank of River Shipra and south of the city, is the main attraction to the tourists. Mahakaleshwar Shiva of 2 nd BC is seated in the lower basement of the temple and Omkareshwar Shiva on the upper. The Tantric faiths and its rituals are followed there. Bara Ganesha Temple on the slope of the hill has a huge multi coloured idol of Goddess Annapurna. Harsiddhi Mother s temple built by the Marathas in the 18 t h century also exists there. 4 / 7
There is also Vikramaditya s sacred Siddhabat or banyan tree on the bank of Shipra. Kumbha mela is held after every 12 years beginning on the full moon day of Bengali calendar month Chaitra and continues upto the full moon day of Baisakh. Sree Dwarkadhis or Gopal Temple of 1833 AD is situated at the heart of the city. The temple is located 1 km from the Ghat and 1½ km from railway station. On the bank of Shipra there is Chintamani Ganesha Temple. Maharaja Vikramaditya had meditated for 12 yrs around the 5 th century BC in the Bharatrihari Cave, situated on the Northern part 7 km away on the left arm of river Shipra Kal Bhairav temple, 2 km from Garkalika built by Parmar King Bhadra Sen, has been referred in Scandha Purana. It is one of the 8 Bharivs and the Goddess worshipped by the Aghora and Kapalik community. Kaliyadeh Palace is a fine piece of ancient Indian architecture. It is 10 km to the north of the city and it looks like an island as it is surrounded by the Shipra water. During Nasiruddin s era in 5 / 7
the 16 th century, Brahma Kunda, Surya Kunda and such other Kundas were dug to keep the palace cool. It is said that once an ancient Sun Temple existed in the palace which was built in 1458 by the Sultan Mahmood Khilji of Mandu. Mangalnath was famous for viewing the red star, Mars. In the era of Mahabharata, Man Mandirs (observatory of cosmic movements) were built by the saints. Mangalnath was called as the Greenwich of India. Sandipan Ashram is 3.2 km away from the city. It is said that Sree Krishna and his elder brother Balaram and friend Sudama used to visit here to take lesson of Archery and Ayurveda from Sandipani who was also their Kulguru. Gomoti Kunda is situated little ahead. Accommodation facilities in Ujjain: 1 2 3 4 5 HotelsTariff Contacts INR The advance booking can be made directly or through www.arraytours.com. Please call 6 / 7
+91 9433001192, (Phone) +91 33 24427635. The above data are indicative as provided by the respective hotel or collected from various sources. The author is not responsible for any difference with the actuals. The interested persons may kindly ask the hotel for the current tariff. 7 / 7