Ahilyeshwar Temple, Maheshwar

Standing just behind the ramparts of the Ahilya Fort, a short walk from the sun-warmed sandstone steps of the Narmada ghats, the Ahilyeshwar Temple is one of Maheshwar's quiet masterpieces.

• Raised by the Holkar dynasty in memory of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar — the eighteenth-century queen who made this river town her capital and became famed across India for building and restoring temples and public works — it is a Shiva shrine that doubles as a monument to her legacy.
• Ahilyabai is remembered by tradition as a devout, just and endlessly building ruler; this temple, understood to have been commissioned in the years after her death in 1795, gathers that reverence into carved stone.
• What draws travellers to linger is the astonishing density of the carving.
• The temple is worked almost entirely in a warm grey-brown stone, its plinth and walls covered in relief panels: rows of miniature figures, elephants and horses, dancers and musicians, floral scrolls and scenes that seem drawn from daily courtly life.
• The shikhara rises in tapering tiers, and closer inspection rewards the eye with detail after detail that photographs rarely capture.
• By tradition a Shiva linga is enshrined within, and the temple remains a place of quiet devotion rather than crowds — a contrast to the busier riverside shrines.
• Set against the fort walls with the Narmada glinting below, it is a favourite of photographers, especially in the golden light of early morning and late afternoon.
• Most visitors fold the Ahilyeshwar Temple into a wider wander through the Maheshwar Fort complex, taking in the Rajwada (the Holkar palace), the riverside ghats where saris are still handloomed on the famous Maheshwari looms, and the boat-borne views of the water.
• Allow yourself unhurried time — the carvings, the river breeze and the sense of a queen's memory held in stone all reward slowness.
• For food, Maheshwar keeps things simple and thoroughly vegetarian, in keeping with its temple-town character.
• Near the fort gate and along the lanes leading down to the ghats you will find pure-veg Malwa and Nimar thali houses and small bhojanalayas serving unlimited dal-baati, poha, sabudana khichdi, kachori and hot chai.
• The Ahilya Fort area and the market square have modest pure-veg family eateries good for a quick thali or breakfast, while riverside stalls near the ghats sell fresh fried snacks and sweets.
• As across this Narmada pilgrim belt, ask for a simple pure-veg thali and you will eat well and cheaply.