Mrityunjay Ashram

About Mrityunjay Ashram

Mrityunjay Ashram is located in Amarkantak. It is an active ashram rather than a monument or a museum, which is worth saying plainly before anything else: people live, work and worship here, and visitors are guests on someone else’s ground rather than ticket holders at a site.

What most visitors notice first is the entrance. The gateway is large, newly built and carved in sandstone, with figures set into niches, tall ornamental gates and the name Mrityunjay in Hindi lettering across the arch. A long carved boundary wall runs behind it. For anyone moving between the better known stops in Amarkantak, this gateway is the landmark that identifies the ashram from outside.

What you will notice

The carved sandstone gateway

The entrance is the most striking thing here. It is a tall sandstone structure, recently built, with carved figures in niches on either side and heavy ornamental gates. The name Mrityunjay is carved in Hindi lettering across the arch, which makes the ashram easy to identify from the road.

The boundary wall

A long carved wall extends behind the gateway and encloses the grounds. Following it along from outside gives you a sense of the scale of the place without walking in. If you do want to go inside, ask at the gate first rather than assuming access.

Planning your visit

Fit this in as a short stop while you are moving between the other sites in Amarkantak rather than as a destination on its own. Because it is a working ashram, how much you see depends entirely on what the residents are willing to show visitors on the day.

• Ask at the gate before entering, and accept it if the answer is no.
• Dress and behave as you would at any place of worship, and remove footwear where you are asked to.
• Keep voices low and do not photograph residents or prayer without asking.
• Come in daylight. Timings are not published, so an evening arrival may find the gates shut.

Best time to visit

Daylight hours are the practical answer, since nothing about access here is published in advance and arriving in the dark tells you very little. The carving on the gateway reads best in morning or late afternoon light, when the relief is not flattened by overhead sun. Avoid turning up in the middle of a monsoon afternoon downpour, when there is nowhere comfortable to wait outside.