हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Khajrana Ganesh Temple, Indore

Indore’s own Ganesh, a murti hidden in a well in Aurangzeb’s time and set up again under Ahilyabai Holkar. The Bhatt family has served it for generations.

Built: 18th century, Rani Ahilyabai Holkar (Indore tradition)Where: Madhya Pradesh (Indore)Deity: Shri Ganesh22.73° N, 75.91° E
  1. 18th century (Ahilyabai, ruled 1767–95)
Photo: Vishwa Sundar · CC BY-SA 4.0

01From the well

Khajrana’s account: the murti was put into a well to keep it safe when temples in Malwa were being broken in Aurangzeb’s reign. Long after, a priest, Pandit Mangal Bhatt, saw in a dream where it lay; it was drawn out and Rani Ahilyabai Holkar had a shrine built for it. The Bhatt family still serves the deity. From a small temple it has grown into a large complex with shrines to many deities, and its gate and sanctum walls are now covered in silver.

02Threads and upside-down swastikas

Devotees making a wish walk round the temple and tie a thread on it, or draw an inverted swastika on the back wall in vermilion; when the wish is granted they come back, untie the thread and draw the swastika upright. Wednesdays and the Ganesh Chaturthi fair bring the city out. The Indore tradition counts Khajrana among the many temples Ahilyabai built or restored across Bharat.

The life of this place

  1. 18th century (Ahilyabai, ruled 1767–95)The murti is recovered from the well and a shrine is built.
Visiting

Khajrana is in east Indore, about 8 km from the railway station; Wednesday mornings are the busiest.

Nearby

IndoreStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Indore

The Malwa town granted to Malhar Rao Holkar by the Peshwa, which grew round the seven-storeyed Rajwada into the Holkar capital. Its name is tied to Ahilyabai, who ruled the Holkar lands from 1767 to 1795 and rebuilt temples from Somnath to Kashi.

Mhow (Dr. Ambedkar Nagar)Standing
Renaissance and the struggle for Swaraj

Mhow (Dr. Ambedkar Nagar)

The army cantonment south of Indore where Bhimrao Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891, the son of an army subedar. The town now bears his name, and the Bhim Janmabhoomi memorial stands on the site of his birth.

Tekri Temples of Chamunda and Tulja Bhavani, DewasStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Tekri Temples of Chamunda and Tulja Bhavani, Dewas

Two sister Devis sit side by side on the little hill, the tekri, in the middle of Dewas: Tulja Bhavani, the elder, and Chamunda, the younger. The town is held to take its name from the Devi’s dwelling, Devi-vasini.

Chintaman Ganesh Temple, UjjainStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Chintaman Ganesh Temple, Ujjain

Ujjain’s largest Ganesh temple, across the Shipra at Jawasiya, where three self-manifest Ganesh murtis sit side by side. Ujjain holds that Shri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana worshipped here in their exile.