Ujjayini, as Ujjain was known earlier, is the fifth-largest city in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the Hindu pilgrimage centres of Sapta-puri famous for the Kumbh Mela held there every 12 years. The famous Shiva temple of Mahakaleshwar, a Jyotirlinga is located in the centre of the Ujjain.
It is an ancient city situated on the eastern banks of the Shipra River; Ujjain was the most prominent city on the Malwa plateau of central India for much of its history. It eventually emerged as the political centre of central India around 600 BCE. It was the capital of the ancient Avanti kingdom, one of the sixteen ‘Mahajanapadas’. It remained an important political, commercial and cultural centre of central India until the early 19th century. Ujjain continues to be an important place of pilgrimage for Shaivites, Vaishnavites and followers of Shakti.
Excavations around Ujjain have revealed chalcolithic agricultural settlements dating to around 2000 BCE. The ancient walled city of Ujjain was located around the ‘Garh-Kalika’ hill on the banks of river ‘Kshipra’. It was surrounded by a 12 m high mud rampart and a 45 m wide and 6.6 m deep moat around the city. These city defences were constructed between 6th and 4th centuries BCE. According to the Puranic texts, a branch of the legendary Hai Haya dynasty ruled over Ujjain.
In the 4th century BCE, the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta annexed Avanti to his empire. The edicts of his grandson Ashoka mention four provinces of the Mauryan empire, of which Ujjain was the capital of the Western province. During the reign of his father Bindusara, Ashoka served as the viceroy of Ujjain, which highlights the importance of the town. As the viceroy of Ujjain, Ashoka married Devi, the daughter of a merchant from Vedisagiri (present day Vidisha). Their children Mahendra and Sanghamitra, who preached Buddhism in modern Sri Lanka, were born in Ujjain.
Ujjain emerged as an important commercial centre, partially because it lay on the trade route connecting north India to the Deccan, starting from Mathura. It also emerged as an important centre for intellectual learning among Jain, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. After the Mauryas, Ujjain was controlled by a number of empires and dynasties like, the Shungas, the Satavahanas, and the Guptas.
Ujjain remained as an important city of the Guptas during the 4th and the 5th centuries. Kalidasa, the great Indian classical poet of the 5th century who lived in the times of the Gupta king Vikramaditya wrote his epic work Meghadūta in which he describes the richness of Ujjain and its people.
Bharthari is said to have written his great epics, Virat Katha, Neeti-Sataka, the love story of Pradyot Princess Vasavadatta and Udayan in Ujjayini, as the city was called during his times. The writings of Bhasa are set in Ujjain, and he probably lived in the city. Kalidasa also refers to Ujjain multiple times, and it appears that he spent at least a part of his life in Ujjain. ‘Mrichchhakatika’ by ‘Shudraka’ is also set in Ujjain. Ujjain also appears in several stories as the capital of the legendary emperor Vikramaditya. Somadeva’s ‘Kathasaritsagara’ (11th century) mentions that the city was created by Vishwakarma, and describes it as invincible, prosperous and full of wonderful sights.
After Indian independence, Ujjain was placed in Madhya Bharat state, which in turn was fused into Madhya Pradesh.
