Datta Akhara (Dattatreya Temple)

On the northern bank of the Shipra (Kshipra), a short way upstream of the crowded Ram Ghat, Datta Akhara is one of Ujjain's oldest surviving ascetic establishments — part monastery, part temple, and by long tradition a resting-ground for wandering sadhus.

• Its presiding deity is Dattatreya, the three-headed form worshipped across Maharashtra and Malwa as the composite of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and the temple's calm courtyards, ochre walls and river-facing steps have drawn renunciants and pilgrims for generations.
• The akhara belongs to the old fabric of a city that Hindus count among the seven sacred mokshapuris, and it carries the unhurried, lived-in feel of a working religious institution rather than a monument.
• For most of the year Datta Akhara is a place of stillness — priests performing the morning aarti, mendicants seated under the trees, and small groups descending to the ghat for a ritual dip in the Shipra.
• Its real moment comes with the Simhastha Kumbh, held at Ujjain roughly every twelve years, when the riverbanks fill with akhara processions, tented camps and continuous chanting.
• At such times Datta Akhara, like the city's other akharas, runs a bhandara — a free community kitchen serving simple, entirely vegetarian food to pilgrims and sadhus.
• The setting is documented, historic and devotional; visitors come to observe, photograph the river at first light, and sit quietly rather than to be entertained. Come early.
• The soft light on the Shipra at dawn, the reflected temple spires and the sound of bells make the akhara one of the gentler, less commercial corners of sacred Ujjain.
• Dress modestly, remove footwear before entering shrines, ask before photographing sadhus, and treat the riverside ghats as active places of worship.
• The temple keeps traditional darshan hours and charges no entry fee, and the surrounding old-town lanes fold easily into a wider walk toward Ram Ghat and the Mahakaleshwar precinct.
• For food, stay with the old town's dependable pure-vegetarian kitchens.
• Ujjain's temple quarter is famously meat-free, and the plain bhojnalayas along the Ram Ghat and Mahakal approach roads serve unlimited Malwi thalis, dal-bafla, and hot poha-jalebi through the morning; ask any of them for the pure-veg kitchen, which is the default here.
• Do not miss mawa-bati, Ujjain's signature khoya-and-syrup sweet, sold at the town's long-running mithai shops, and stick to plain, bhang-free thandai or a sweet lassi to cool off — pure-vegetarian, family-friendly, and a fitting close to a morning at the akhara.