Saiva · Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh
Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga
Omkareshwar and Mamleshwar (Jyotirlinga) on the Narmada island
GeneralPitru and ancestors
The temple in short
- Deity
- Omkareshwar and Mamleshwar (Jyotirlinga) on the Narmada island
- Where
- Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh · 22.24N 76.15E
- Usual hours
- 5 am – 1 pm, 4 pm – 9 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Guru
- Visited for
- A Jyotirlinga on an island shaped like the syllable Om, where the Narmada parikrama begins and ends. Tarpanam on the ghats is common.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that the Vindhya mountain did penance here and that Sivan appeared and stayed, and that the island in the Narmada took the shape of the syllable Om for it.
The Jyotirlinga is counted as one, but it is worshipped in two places: Omkareshwar on the island and Mamleshwar on the south bank. Which of the two is the Jyotirlinga has been argued over for a long time, and most pilgrims settle it by visiting both.
Adi Sankara is said by tradition to have met his teacher Govindapada in a cave on this island as a boy.
What is recorded
Documented history
Omkareshwar is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. The Narmada Parikrama, the walk along both banks of the river from source to sea and back, is commonly begun and ended here.
The Siddhanath temple and the older shrines on the island carry substantial early medieval carving, and the island has more standing stonework than the main temple alone suggests.
What there is to see
Description
The island is reached by a footbridge or by boat, and the walk round it is the visit as much as the shrine is.
The linga in the sanctum is not at the centre of the floor, which visitors notice and ask about; it is a natural formation rather than a placed one.
Mamleshwar stands across the water on the south bank. The ghats on both sides are used for bathing and for tarpanam, and the Narmada runs green and wide between them.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Maha Shivaratri and the Mondays of Shravan are the busiest. Kartik Purnima and Narmada Jayanti fill the ghats.
Parikrama walkers pass through all year, and the island is quiet in the middle of the day outside festival weeks.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Mandhata, Omkar Mandhata, Mamleshwar
- Reaching it
- Omkareshwar is in Khandwa district, about 80 km south-west of Indore. Omkareshwar Road station at Mortakka is roughly 12 km away, and buses run from Indore.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
Add what you know
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- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
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Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.