Ujjain
— — a city the calendar still turns toward.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the seven sacred cities of Hindu tradition, on the east bank of the Shipra River. Mahakaleshwar Temple (one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva) sits at its centre, where the Bhasma Aarti begins at four in the morning. Every twelve years the Simhastha Kumbh Mela draws tens of millions to the ghats. The rest of the time, Ujjain runs to its own slower clock.
Ujjain, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Ujjain sits on the east bank of the Shipra River in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, central India, about 55 kilometres northwest of Indore. The city is one of the Sapta Puri, the seven holiest cities of Hindu tradition, alongside Varanasi, Haridwar, and Dwarka. It was the capital of the Avanti kingdom in the sixth century BCE, and later the court of King Vikramaditya. The astronomer Varahamihira observed from here; for centuries the prime meridian of Indian astronomy ran through Ujjain. The contemporary population is roughly 515,000.
Every twelve years Ujjain hosts the Simhastha Kumbh Mela, named for the entry of Jupiter into the Leo zodiac sign. The 2016 Simhastha drew an estimated 75 million pilgrims to the ghats of the Shipra across roughly a month, making it among the largest peaceful gatherings on earth. The next Simhastha at Ujjain is set for 2028. Outside the Kumbh, the daily Bhasma Aarti at Mahakaleshwar, performed with sacred ash before sunrise, has continued without interruption for centuries and remains the temple's signature ritual.
Mahakaleshwar Temple is open from 04:00 for the Bhasma Aarti, for which advance booking through the temple administration is required and which permits limited darshan from the Nandi Hall. Entry to the main sanctum runs through the day until late evening. The Kal Bhairav, Harsiddhi, and Mangalnath temples form a circuit a short ride apart. The Ram Ghat steps to the Shipra are most photographed at dawn. The nearest airport is Indore (Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International), about an hour by road; Ujjain Junction is a major stop on the Western Railway.