A ruin on the path

Siddhanath Temple, Omkareshwar

Siddhanath Temple at Omkareshwar is an old Shiva shrine on the parikrama, not a second entrance to the Jyotirlinga. Madhya Pradesh Tourism calls the ruin 13th-century, early medieval, and describes a plinth with elephants, including a carving about 1.5 metres high. The trust’s homepage mentions Siddhanath Baradari on the walk.

See it as part of the walk

State tourism says Siddhanath stands nearly at the end of the Omkareshwar parikrama, on a plinth whose sides carry elephants in different postures. That is the reason to include it: the walk already passes it. A separate taxi “to a ruin” without the path misses the point the trust is making when it folds Siddhanath into the 7 km circuit.

The same tourism page also says the main temple complex contains a shrine of Siddhanath among other deities. There is a name inside the living temple and a ruin on the hill. Ask which one a driver means. The Jyotirlinga queue does not pass through the ruin, and the ruin does not keep the Jyotirlinga’s timetable.