Ujjain or Ujjayini is an important part of “Sapta Puri” which refers to the sacred cities of Hindus. There are seven sacred cities as per Hindu mythology and Ujjain happens to be one of them. Ujjain with an area of around 152 sq km. and a population of 515,215 is located on the banks of the river Kshipra, which has religious significance of its own. A tour of Madhya Pradesh cannot be complete without exploring Ujjain. Ujjain is one of the four holy places where Kumbh mela is organized every four years. The Kumbh mela or otherwise known as Simhastha mela attracts a huge amount of pilgrims from all over the country and thus this also happens to be one of the biggest religious fairs of the world.
Ujjain is also a place of historical and literary significance. One could find many references to Ujjayini in the literary epic Mahabharata. In this epic poem Ujjain or Ujjayini, which is the name used to refer to Ujjain, was the capital of a very important kingdom called Avanti. This is the place where one part of Skanda Purana was composed. In this holy book Ujjain is said to be at the centre of the earth. Apart from these the importance of Ujjain is increased even more by the beautiful monuments and Holy places one could visit over here. The most popular holy places are Mangalnaath Observatory otherwise or Veda Shala, Avanti Parshwanath, Sandipani Ashram, Kaal Bhairab, Mahakal Temple, Gadh Kalika, Chintaman Ganesh, Tapobhoomi, ISKCON temple, Hanumant baag and the list goes on and one. Each of these places has their own significance like Vedh Shala happens to be the first Indian observatory. Ujjain is also referred to as the Greenwich of India. This is because the first meridian in longitude goes through this place. This observatory was constructed by the great rules Savai Raja Jaysingh from 1725 to 1730
Thus the places like Vikram Kirti Mandir, Kalidas Academy, Ved Shala and the events like Kumbh Mela clearly makes Ujjain a go-to place for anybody who is seeking adventure, knowledge and fun at the same time and it definitely brings everybody close to the religious side of the country and Madhya Pradesh.