Omkareshwar

Omkareshwar, in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh, is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva — the most sacred class of Shiva temples in Hinduism — and among the most beautifully situated of them all.

• The temple sits on Mandhata, a river island in the Narmada whose outline is said to trace the shape of the Devanagari syllable "ॐ" (Om), the primordial sound, which gives the shrine its name: Omkareshwar, "the Lord of Omkara." The island, wrapped on all sides by the broad green Narmada and reached by a footbridge and by boat, is a dense and atmospheric pilgrim landscape of stepped ghats, narrow lanes, sadhus, and shrines.
• The Omkareshwar temple itself, a multi-storeyed stone structure with an intricately carved sanctum, houses the Jyotirlinga; across the river on the south bank stands the Mamleshwar (Amareshwar) temple, traditionally regarded as part of the same Jyotirlinga and equal in sanctity.
• Devotees perform the Mandhata parikrama, a roughly 7-km circumambulation of the sacred island along the riverbank, passing the Siddhanath temple, the Gaudi Somnath shrine, and countless smaller temples, with sweeping views of the Narmada and the dam upstream.
• The evening Narmada aarti at the ghats, with floating lamps carried away on the current, is deeply moving.
• As a Shaivite pilgrimage town, Omkareshwar maintains a sattvic, pure-vegetarian atmosphere throughout.
• Above the town rises the Statue of Oneness, a 108-foot multi-metal statue of Adi Shankaracharya unveiled in 2023 that marks Omkareshwar as the place where the young philosopher is believed to have met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada in a riverside cave.
• For vegetarian travellers it is entirely easy: temple prasad, sattvic (no onion, no garlic) thali at the pilgrim bhojanalayas, sabudana khichdi, poha, and milk-sweets are the staples in the lanes around the temple.
• The best season is October to March; Mahashivratri (February-March) and the month of Shravan draw the largest crowds.
• Omkareshwar pairs naturally with Maheshwar and Indore.