Bhasma Aarti

Mahakal, the first Rudra.

Amongst the 11 Rudra, Mahakal, literally translating to the Lord of Death and Time (Kaal) is the first one (Adirudra, Adi meaning first). As per Mythological account, when Avantika (now known as Ujjain) was ruled by Chandrasen, an ardent devotee of Shiv, a farmer boy heard him chant praises to Shiv and went further to join the King in his prayers. However, he was disallowed by the guards and sent off to the outskirts of the kingdom on the banks of Kshipra river. It was then that the neighbouring Kings decided to attack Avantika. Knowing this, the farmer boy began to pray and the news spread to a sage named Vriddhi who began to pray as well. The attack was successful as an Asur named Dushan aided the neighouring Kings. Being enraged at this, Shiv appeared as Mahakal and reduced the demon to ashes. Later on, Mahakal smeared this demon's ashes over himself. It was on the King, the sage and the farmer boy's request that Shiv decided to reside as a Jyotirling in Ujjain.

Amongst the 12 Jyotirlings, Mahakaleshwar is the only South facing Linga. What is peculiar is it's Bhasma Aarti at 4am each morning. It is the first amongst the 5 types of aartis performed at this Jyotirling. Only on the day after Mahashivratri, the Bhasma Aarti is performed at 12 noon. It is believed that on this day, Shiv is intoxicated from his marriage celebrations to Parvati on the previous night and needs to rest. The Bhasma Aarti is a wakeup call to the deity and the procedure is equivalent to bathing the deity and smearing the Linga with Bhasma, Ash from a fresh corpse. Women are not permitted to witness the process of smearing bhasma and are asked to cover their heads with a cloth. The Bhasma Aarti is performed each day without fail, no matter what. In 2015, it was performed despite a flood when waters entered the inner sanctum (garbagriha) of the temple.

The city of Ujjain also houses one amongst the 108 Shakti Peethas (places where parts of Devi Sati's corpse fell). The Devi's upper lip is said to have fallen here and Shakti residing here is called Mahakali.