What are the darshan timings of Sandipani Ashram?
Sandipani Ashram in Ujjain is open for darshan 6:00 AM – 8:00 PM. The temple is located at near Mangalnath road.
Timings can change on festivals, eclipses and special occasions. Please confirm with the temple before you travel.
What is Sandipani Ashram known for?
Sandipani Ashram at Mangalnath Road in Ujjain is held in tradition to be the gurukul of Rishi Sandipani, where Krishna, Balarama and Sudama were sent to study. The site is quiet and small: a shrine, a tank called Gomti Kund, and a stone on which, by local tradition, the rishi tallied his student's lessons — the ankpat, from which the nearby locality takes its name. For pilgrims it is one of the few places in India associated specifically with Krishna as a student rather than as a child or a king.
Why is Sandipani Ashram significant?
The Bhagavata Purana describes Krishna and Balarama completing their education under Sandipani in sixty-four days, mastering the sixty-four arts — and the friendship formed there with Sudama, the poor brahmin whose later visit to Dwarka is among the best-loved episodes in Vaishnava devotion. Ujjain's claim to the gurukul is old and is reflected in the surrounding place names. Gomti Kund, the tank on the site, is traditionally said to have been drawn here by Krishna so that his guru would not have to travel for water.
Which rituals and festivals are held at Sandipani Ashram?
Worship here is simple and unhurried. The shrine holds images of Sandipani with his students; devotees offer flowers and light lamps, and many take a moment at Gomti Kund. There is no elaborate aarti cycle of the kind kept at the larger temples.
Janmashtami and Guru Purnima are the two occasions the ashram is most associated with — Guru Purnima particularly, given the site's subject. Parents commonly bring children here before the start of a school year, and the association with study and with the guru-shishya relationship is the reason most visitors come.
How do you reach Sandipani Ashram?
The ashram is on Mangalnath Road, about three kilometres from Ujjain Junction railway station and within a few minutes' drive of the Mangalnath temple. Autos and cabs reach it easily, and it is usually combined with Mangalnath and the Gopal Mandir in one circuit.
The site is compact and a visit rarely takes more than half an hour. Indore airport is about 55 kilometres away.