We woke up around 6:30 am. Got hot Tea and hot water for bath. Got ready by 8:00 am. After breakfast we went to the Gouri Ghat to perform the final Sankalp Pooja to end the Parikrama. We finished the Pooja and then went to Omkareshwar temple across the bridge. We are now allowed to cross the river. We took some of the water that we have been carrying through our journey and did Abhisheka (poured it onto the Shivlingam in the temple). There was so much crowd we were basically pushed through the lines. I wish they had moving platform that would go at a slow speed and everyone could take darshan in peace instead of being pushed. Oh well!!! We came out and did one last Parikrama around Mandhata. We finished the Parikrama around 12:30 pm and went to Mamleshwar to do Abhisheka there. Rush was less in this temple. We stayed for few minutes longer in the main garbha gruha. When we came out Panditji said now you have completed the Parikrama. One last thing remains – Kanya Bhojan. We are supposed to feed at least 9 girls after the Parikrama. We came back to the ashram and the Kanya Bhojan was ready. The girls were all sitting ready to be served. We fed them. There were three boys as well. We gave each one a small gift. The girls were used to the Kanya Bhojan process. After the girls finished lunch we finished lunches and packed. Yashvant Patel, along with his cousin Shyam, from Kankaria ( we had met him day 2 of our Parikrama) came to pickup us and take us to his house for dinner. Our plan is to go to Ujjain tonight. We got to Kankaria around 4:30 pm.
Yashvant had arranged for a boat ride to Gangeshwar temple in the middle of Narmada Maiya. The boat ride was fifteen minutes. When we came to the spot it was not what I expected. It was concrete platform where we got off the boat and saw a Shivlingam submerged in water in the middle of the platform. We spent about 30-45 minutes. The water flowing around the platform seemed to flow in circular pattern. The weather was perfect. We waded in knee deep water. Yashvant said they come here in the summer and swim And play in the water for hours. Ahhhh. Wish I had my swimsuit. As we were going back to shore the boat ran out of gas. No one seemed to be bothered. We were all very calm. Yashvant only told the boatman that he should keep an eye on such things. That’s it. We floated for few minutes and reached close to the shore and people on the shore threw a rope and pulled us close for us to get off the boat. By the time we got back to Yashvant’s house Daal Baati was ready. We had early dinner and left Kankaria by 6:30 pm. We had a 5-6 hour drive ahead of us. We stopped for a short Tea break so the driver would stay awake.
We reached Mahakaleshwar Bhakta Nivas Hotel in Ujjain by 11:45 pm. This hotel is located in the temple complex and is a perfect place to stay. Very convenient. One has to book one month in advance to get rooms – my maiden name, Sahasrabuddhe, got us in as the place was set up by a namesake – especially since the entire journey was inspired by my dad in the first place.
By the time we checked in and got to bed it was 12:45 am. We walked 13.4 kms. The last of our walks in Narmada Parikrama. One adventure has come to an end. Next one awaits….. Thank you for visiting my blog.
I want to say a special Narmade Har to Baiju for supporting me in the journey. He did all the pre-planning of the route and made sure I did not get lost at any point.
