The split jyotirlinga

I can see you wondering — ‘What, a split jyotirlinga? Yes, one among the 12 jyotirlingas is in fact a split jyotirlinga — two of them close by are taken together as one jyotirlinga viz. Omkareshwar jyotirlinga. Now how did this happen? Two legends are attributed to this jyotirlinga. One says that King Mandhata was an ardent devotee of Shiva and pleased with his devotion, Shiva appeared before him. The king requested Him to stay on the island called Mandhata, shaped liked an OM when seen from the air. Shiva agreed and stayed there as Omkareshwar and at the request of the devas, split into two parts, the other being on the mainland as Amareshwar or Mamleshwar. The other narration is about Mount Vindhya praying to Shiva for growing taller and taller. Shiva granted the boon subject to the condition that Mount Vindhya would not trouble anyone. Shiva resided there after splitting the lingam. Having darshan of both Omkareshwar and Mamleshwar would only constitute a jyotirlinga darshan.

We set off from Ujjain by around 8.15 AM on an empty stomach. Halted at a small but apparently renowned stall for breakfast on the way at Sawer. Piping hot and spicy poha, local version of dhokla and kullad chai made for a satisfying breakfast.

As we drove along, our driver remarked that he learnt from a friend that darshan at Omkareshwar the previous day, had taken 7 hours. Oh, I said’ But with special darshan, it should be quicker’? The driver’s response was there was no special or VIP darshan at Omkareshwar. He added that the temple pandits ‘facilitated’ quick darshan for a fee. Seeing no response from my side, he added that the temple will close at 12 noon and re-open by 1.30 PM. It was close to 10.30 AM when the driver insisted we see the Navagraha Shani Mandir on the main road itself in the village of Baigam. A new temple designed specifically for the navagraha, more specifically for Saturn or Shani. It is claimed to be the world’s largest temple for Shani based on vaastu shastra. Oil was being sold in small containers that could be used for performing abhishek on Shani. Certainly, a place worth a halt.

Continued on our way across long winding roads, small villages, dhabas in the midst of nowhere and finally by around 11.AM, we reached the Omkareshwar mainland called Brahmapuri. Parked the car along the road and then our driver asked if he should contact the temple pandit for our darshan. Reluctantly, I said okay. He called on his mobile and within two minutes, Panditji walked across to us. I was taken aback. I had in mind, a temple priest who would ask us to come over to the temple and then discuss.Here was a man in ochre robes, looking like a ruffian, right at our car. I was curt and asked him how much he would charge. What he said shocked me — ‘ Rupees one thousand five hundred for me and of course you will have to pay Rupees three hundred per head as VIP darshan charges’. I recalled our driver saying there was no VIP darshan and sensed a well-oiled racket. I laughed and told Panditji, if there is a paid VIP darshan, why do I need you? He talked about facilitating an abhishek for us. I cut him short saying, we only want to have a darshan, no poojas, abhishek, etc. Now he played his last card — If you give money to a Brahmin, it will be a ‘punya’ or that I will be absolved of my sins. How much was I prepared to give? I literally shooed him off, looked daggers at our driver and started walking briskly along the narrow street where arrow-signs showed the way. En route, we saw many more pandits, some approached us and were shooed away. Now, we passed through a covered market-place lined with small shops and a little further up saw an arrow pointing the way to the Mamleshwar Temple. We wished to see Omkareshwar first ( said to close at 12 noon) and hence moved ahead. Saw one branch of the street leading down to the Narmada river, where we could see some boats as well. The other branch of the road was up a small incline. Checked with a passer-by, which route to take. He explained that, one can go down, take a boat and cross over to Omkareshwar temple. This will necessitate climbing up the temple steps from the jetty. The other alternative was to walk up the other way and take the 235 meter-long suspension bridge ‘Mamleshwar Setu’ that would lead us right to the temple door on Shivpuri island or Mandhata island. The island is surrounded by the Narmada and its tributary known as Kabri or Kaveri ( not to be confused with the Cauvery in south India) We opted to walk over the Narmada. Walked briskly without even looking at the lovely scenery from the bridge, we reached the covered passage before the temple and soon sought out the VIP darshan counter, shooing away a couple more pandits. No crowd there and we bought our tickets paying Rs.300 per head. We were guided to a separate entrance where our tickets were checked and we went up a small flight of stairs to the next level, then came down a narrow, flight of stairs right into the temple.

We had hardly moved a few feet in the queue, when we were facing the one, we had come to see. Surprised, I asked, ‘ Is this the Jyotirlinga ?’. Yes, the Omkareshwar jyotirlinga, said the lady managing the security and waved us forward as others in the queue were waiting for the darshan. It happened in a fleeting second. I could make out that the jyotirlinga was on the floor with a pipeline through which water was dripping on it. Between devotees and the lingam is a glass partition and some people doing the abhishek poured milk from over the partition.

We were quite awe-struck by the very quick darshan and considered ourselves truly blessed. Walked back to the ticket counter and made a small voluntary contribution to the temple. Some devotees after darshan do a parikrama or circumambulation of the temple, that is a good 7 kilometer walk . We were told that the path goes up and down along the river and has a number of smaller temples along the way. Parikrama can also be done on the river by going round the island on a boat and having a dip at the sangam, the confluence of the Narmada and Kaveri. Not wanting to do either, we walked back along the bridge, stopping to click some pictures of the lovely views of the Narmada. Lovely no doubt, but on a closer look, lot of waste material thrown by people are seen along the river bank. We can do much better.

Now we were back on the southern bank of the Narmada again, that is at Brahmapuri. Extremely thirsty, we had to stop for a drink of cold nimbu-paani before proceeding towards completion of our jyotirlinga darshan by having darshan of Mamleshwar. Being the smaller of the two temples, we thought darshan here will be easy. How wrong we were! It had started to drizzle , as we stood in the queue under a covered passage. The queue was not moving at all and here in this temple, there really was no facility of a special darshan. Now, we started moving slowly, and were soon in the open courtyard of the ancient temple. As we neared the temple steps, there was pandemonium. The lines were broken and it was a free-for-all, with people jostling one another for going up the narrow steps. There was a warning board asking us to beware pickpockets, but there was absolutely no security or crowd-management. We managed to enter the sanctum sanctorum after some effort, but the effort was worth it. We could see Mamleshwar at close quarters in all His glory. Devotees are allowed to touch the lingam too. As we stepped out from the small temple confines into the open courtyard, gulping in fresh air, we saw an argument going on and a crowd had gathered in one spot. Learnt that someone’s bag had been cut whilst in the crowd entering the temple. Devotees need to be extra careful here. A beautiful, ancient temple ……. could do with better crowd management and safety.

We walked back to our car and narrated to the driver the extra-quick darshan we had at Omkareshwar. He looked on sheepishly. Not wanting to embarrass the poor guy further, asked him to quickly find a good place for lunch, as were famished.