What are the darshan timings of Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple?
Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple in Ujjain is open for darshan 6:00 AM – 8:00 PM. The temple is located at near Ram Ghat.
Timings can change on festivals, eclipses and special occasions. Please confirm with the temple before you travel.
What is Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple known for?
Chaubis Khamba is a stone gateway in the old city of Ujjain, its name taken from the twenty-four carved pillars that make up the structure. It is one of the oldest surviving pieces of architecture in the city and is understood to have been a ceremonial entrance to the Mahakal van — the temple precinct as it stood in an earlier age. Two goddesses are worshipped on the gate itself, Mahamaya and Mahalaya, whose images are set into the jambs and have been in worship continuously.
Why is Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple significant?
The gateway is dated by its carving to around the ninth or tenth century and is a rare physical survival from Ujjain's earlier temple city, most of which is gone. Its position marks the boundary of the old sacred precinct, which is why the Simhastha and Nagar Puja processions of the city still pass through it. For visitors it is the clearest surviving evidence of how much older Ujjain's temple landscape is than the structures standing on it today.
Which rituals and festivals are held at Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple?
Worship at the gate is simple — flowers, sindoor and chunari offered to Mahamaya and Mahalaya. The gateway takes on its ceremonial role during Navratri and at the Nagar Puja that precedes Simhastha, when the city's processions pass through it.
How do you reach Shri Chaubis Khamba Mata Temple?
Chaubis Khamba stands in the old city between Mahakaleshwar and the Gopal Mandir, roughly two kilometres from Ujjain Junction railway station. The lanes are narrow and it is reached on foot as part of the old-city walk.
It takes only a few minutes to see and fits naturally between Mahakal, Gopal Mandir and Ram Ghat.