Ujjain

Today, March 6, is Shiv Ratri. Mhow, where I live, and the whole of the Malwa area reverberates with songs in praise of Lord Shiva. This part of India is like a Shiva Kshetram (a temple of Shiva). Not far from Mhow is Ujjain where the temple of Mahakaal has one of the twelve jyotirlingas. It is said that this is the only jyotirlinga which faces towards the south and hence it is called Dakshinamukhi or south facing.  

And if one travels towards the plains of Nimar where the Narmada flows one reaches the temple town of Omkareshwar where the Narmada and the Kaveri meet. On an island between these rivers is the temple of Shiva which also has a jyotirlinga. It is said that this island is in the shape of the Devnagari letter 'Om'. The hill on which this  temple is built is called Mandhata. There are two temples on this island - one to Omkareshwar and the other to Amareshwar. Adi Shankaracharya's guru Govind Bhagavadpaada is believed to have lived in Omkareshwar in a cave. The nearest railway station Mortakka on the Indore Khandwa route is some 16 or so kilometres from the temple. According to local legend  King Mandhata of the Ikshvaku clan worshipped here. The Omkareshwar temple is built in the Nagara style.

I have often been to Omkareshwar on Shiv Ratri nights. I have been there with friends and alone. I would generally take a bus from Indore and reach Omkareshwar by early evening. Walking around Omkareshwar on this day is an experience by itself. Soaking in the atmosphere, seeing pilgrims from various towns and cities. One also sees many westerners who seem to be attracted to this small town thanks to the post-sixties interest in Hinduism and all things Eastern. I remember a family friend telling me that she had seen a sign or two in Hebrew! No wonder the rabbis in Israel are worried. Most of the westerners here seem to be the "been there, done that, got the T shirt"  type of tourists with their well thumbed copies of Lonely Planet Traveller's Guide to India.

I remember meeting a young man named Mahesh some years ago. He told me that he had come to pray to Shiva because he had been thrown out of his house by his elder brother and his wife. I offered him a cup of tea and a samosa. As we sat in a tea shop and sipped our tea he told me his story. "My parents are dead and I am not married," he told me, "my sister-in-law does not like me. So she told my brother to throw me out. I have no place to go. I will spend the night here and then return to Indore." I hope he has been accepted back by his family. As a single person myself I sympathised with him. Maybe the fact that I belong to an educated family has made my family accept my decision to stay single. The conventional belief is that such a person will not fight for his family and that he would be a liability and not an asset to his family.  I wonder whether Mahesh, who has been named after Shiva himself, has found his peace and is happy now.

Visiting the temple on this day is an experience by itself. I remember a Malayali Christian telling me that he had accompanied his Hindu friends and visited the temple for a darshan on Shiv Ratri. "It was a very moving experience," he told me, "the vibrations I felt there were so powerful." My first reaction was to  wonder whether he was telling me this just to make me happy. But no, he seemed  genuinely moved. And one  would not travel the sixty plus kilometres from Indore to Omkareshwar on a bumpy, hilly road unless one were serious.  I admired him for his healthy attitude towards other religions. He reminded me of the playback singer Yesudas who is a devotee of Krishna in the form of Guruvayurappan. The only difference being that Yesudas has not been allowed to enter Guruvayur by the Namboodiri brahmin priests but this young man claimed to have entered a Siva temple along with his Hindu friends just by keeping quiet and walking in as part of a larger group.

Finding accommodation on this day is very difficult. Most of the reasonably clean hotels, and there aren't many of them, are full. The government rest houses are full of officials from different parts of the state who want to visit the temple on this very day. The dharamshalas are community based so it becomes difficult for me to be accepted into any. Most of them have a polite answer, "Our rooms are full." Admission for members only, I guess. I even asked at the Sikh gurudwara once but I was given the same answer. But I am not complaining. Each dharamshala has more people seeking rooms or sleeping space than they can possibly accommodate. It seemed no dharamshala wanted this non-resident Keralite.  And there are no Kerala dharamshalas in this town where the temple was founded by Adi Shankaracharya who belonged to Kerala. 

On one occasion all of us slept on the floor of the terrace of a dharamshala and the mosquitos had a field day. But I was in my twenties then and tougher than what I am today. And, I realise now, there were no Anopheles mosquitos around that night. And on one occasion we spent the night on the steps at the river bank. Lord Shiva would have smiled. The sunrise was a sight to remember. So beautiful.  The last time I visited Omkareshwar on Shiv Ratri I went to a dhobi shop and slept on the table on which he ironed his clothes. It cost me a princely thirty rupees. Thanks to Bindeshwari Pathak and his chain of public toilets named Sulabh Shauchalaya it is possible for one to use a reasonably clean toilet in the morning. An early morning bus after a cup of tea and some biscuits ensured that one reached home before lunch and before it became uncomfortably warm. 

I remember the boat ride on the Narmada I took on one such occasion. Narmada is supposed to be Shiva's daughter. "Narmada ka har kankar, Shankar hi Shankar," a friend told me a few days ago. A simple saying in Hindi which means that Shiva resides in every pebble found on the banks and the bed of the Narmada.  I remember the many photographs I took with my simple camera. The colours worn by the village women and the colourful turbans and safas of the village men are so beautiful.  I hope I find some of these pictures. I will upload them and insert them in this post. 

On my last trip there I had taken a copy of Speaking of Siva the book containing Kannada poems in praise of Lord Siva translated by the scholar poet A. K. Ramanujan. The four poets whose works (vacanas) ae featured in this book are Dasimayya, Basavanna, Allamu, and  Mahadeviyakka. These are poets who lived in the 10th-12th centuries. It was a great experience to read these poets sitting on the steps of the Narmada at Omkareshwar. Poem 820 by Basavanna (p. 89) is one of my favourites: 

"The rich
will make temples for Siva.
What shall I,
a poor man,
do?"

It is now more than six years since I have visited Omkareshwar. My father's illness and his insulin injections makes it difficult for me to leave my parents and take an overnight trip. "Be near your parents like Ganesha," says a friend. Mythology has answers for every situation. Tonight I will be visiting the Aiyappa temple in the industrial town of Pithampur, not far from Mhow, to attend a special Abhishekham. It is not far from home so I will be able to attend to my family duties as well. The visit has an irony of its own. Aiyappa is Kerala's only home grown God and he is the son of Shiva (in the form of Mohini) and Vishnu. I am sure Adi Shankaracharya would have approved. 
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Chanting in Sanskrit in praise of Lord Shiva