Devalok
Local story · 1 telling · Central India

How Mahakal came to Ujjain

Who is in it

Places: Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar) · Texts: Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. King Chandrasena of Ujjain is a devotee of Shiva and a friend of Shiva's attendant Manibhadra.
  2. A shepherd boy, Shrikhar, sees the king's worship and wants to join it, and is turned away.
  3. Rival kings and the demon Dushana march on the city.
  4. The boy and the priest Vridhi pray to Shiva for the city.
  5. Shiva rises from the earth as a pillar of light and destroys the enemies.
  6. At the people's prayer he stays as Mahakal, lord of time, guardian of Ujjain.
  7. Later kings, including Vikramaditya, honour the shrine; the dawn ash-bath is its daily rite.

siege child devotee column of light protection

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Temple tradition

Mahakaleshwar temple tradition

Central India · Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh Shaiva

Ujjain's king Chandrasena loved Shiva and wore a jewel given by one of Shiva's own attendants; other kings wanted the jewel. A shepherd's son named Shrikhar saw the king at worship, tried to join in, and was pushed out of the palace, so he prayed on his own with an old priest, Vridhi, while the armies of two kings and the demon Dushana closed on the city. The prayers of a boy and an old man were answered by a column of light out of the ground, and Shiva in the form of great time burned the enemies away. The people asked him not to leave and he stayed as Mahakal, the city's guardian, facing south. The sacked and rebuilt temple has held the linga ever since, and every dawn it is bathed in ash from the cremation ground before anyone else may see it.

Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga — Wikipedia; Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Ujjain — MP Tourism

Sources: Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga — Wikipedia; Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Ujjain — MP Tourism

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