Eleven lamps have been kept burning here for centuries, and they are meant never to go out.
Shri Raj Rajeshwar is a shivalay, and its distinguishing feature is light. Eleven lamps, the akhand deepak, have been kept burning here for many centuries and are said to be maintained for ever. Walking in to a sanctum lit by continuously tended flame rather than electricity is the whole experience of the place.
The temple is believed to be the trance place of the Somvanshiya Sahastrarjun, Kartavirya Arjun. His birth anniversary is a major festival in Maheshwar, celebrated on the Shukla Saptami of the month of Agahan. The celebration runs for three days and closes with a bhandara, a large lunch served to everybody present.
Eleven lamps burn continuously in the temple and have done for centuries. They are the reason people come, and the low flame-lit interior is quite unlike the other Maheshwar shrines. Do not photograph with flash.
The temple is a shivalay and the shrine remains in daily worship. It is also held to be the trance place of Somvanshiya Sahastrarjun, Kartavirya Arjun, which gives it standing beyond the town.
The birth anniversary of Sahastrabahu Kartavirya Arjun falls on the Shukla Saptami of Agahan and is one of the biggest occasions in Maheshwar. It runs three days and ends with a bhandara open to all.
The temple sits in Maheshwar town within the riverside temple circuit. It is a short visit on an ordinary day and a long one during the festival.
October to March is the pleasant half of the year in Maheshwar. Early morning and evening are the best hours to see the lamps, because the contrast in the dim interior is strongest then. The Shukla Saptami of Agahan is the most significant date here and the three days that follow it are the town's largest gathering.
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