Introduction:
River Narmada, originating from Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, moves westward and flows into the Arabian Sea. A good number of towns and cities on its banks flourish from the ancient period. Several religious places came up in the course of time. Omkareshwar is a small town on its bank, which is famous for the “Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga” temple. It comes under the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh and has road connectivity with several towns. It has no direct rail and air connectivity, but the nearest major railway station and airport are Indore. Khandwa is another nearby city with a major railway station.
The Journey:
We visited Omkareshwar and a few other tourist places in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh in September 2025. We hired a taxi from our hotel in Ujjain, where we stayed for two days as per our planning, at 08:00 AM for a 4.5-hour journey (including breakfast halt) to reach Omkareshwar at 12:30 PM and checked into a pre-booked budget hotel.
Day-1:
After a 30-minute rest in the hotel, we walked about 400 meters to visit Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Mandhata Island on the bank of the river Narmada. One can cross the river by boat ride or a hanging bridge. We crossed it through the bridge like many others.
Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga temple
The temple has an old history, and was destroyed and re-constructed a few times. The present temple was built in the 18th century by the Holkar Kings. There was a long queue of devotees, and it took more than 1-hour to have a Darshan. We felt blessed inside the shrine.
From there, we came back by the same bridge to the “Mamleshwar” temple, another old 11th century temple. It is believed that Omkareshwar Darshan is incomplete without Darshan of Mamleshwar.
Mamleshwar Temple
A big statue of Adi Shankaracharya on Mandhata Island was visible from our hotel. Though worth visiting, we didn’t cover that. Other few temples are: Gouri Somnath temple, Rin Mukteshwar temple, Kedarnatheshwar temple, Ashapura Mata temple, Siddhanath temple, Mata Annapurna Temple, etc. We didn’t cover these either.
After lunch, we took a 1-hour rest in the hotel. A boat-ride in the river Narmada in the late afternoon was enjoyable.
Several boats start from Brahmapuri Ghat. “Narmada Aarti” is performed near this ghat also. Evening was nice with shopping for gift items from roadside shops near Mamleshwar temple, tea and snacks leisure in a nearby restaurant, and a casual stroll on the roads of this small town.
This small town appeared sleepy at about 9:00 PM. The weather was very comfortable, neither hot nor cold, at times cloudy without rain. We had a quick dinner in a nearby restaurant and returned to bed.
Day-2: Leaving Omkareshwar:
We left Omkareshwar at 08:30 AM by a hired taxi for Maheshwar.
Stay & Food:
There are hotels in the price range of INR 1000 to INR 4000 per night in Omkareshwar. A good air-conditioned budget hotel room will be available in the price range of INR 1500 to INR 2500.
Few hotels have their own restaurants. In addition, a few restaurants and street-food corners are available nearby. North-Indian foods, Chinese, and tandoor food are available.
Transport:
Bus service is available for nearby towns, but taxi service is preferred by tourists who can afford. Auto-rickshaws are available for town movement.
Last Words:
Omkareshwar is a small town, but its history dates to the 11th century AD, the period of construction of the Mamleshwar temple. Also, history says, the Omkareshwar temple was destroyed and re-constructed several times. The region was ruled by different rulers at different times, such as Bhils, Parmars, Sultans, Scindias, Holkars and British.
The town has religious significance for Hindus, but does not have much historical significance. I recommend a 1-day visit to this small, beautiful and peaceful town during the period from September to March.
Kishor Kumar Mishra
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