Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening performed puja with rituals at Lord Mahakal temple in Ujjain before inaugurating the first phase of the Mahakal Lok corridor.
Modi, attired in traditional dhoti and gamcha (stole) entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Mahakaleshwar temple, one of the 12 'Jyotirlingas' of Lord Shiv, at around 6 pm.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia accompanied Modi to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Modi entered the sanctum sanctorum alone where a team of priests applied sandalwood paste on his forehead.
He performed puja with rituals and amid the chanting of mantras by chief priest Ghanshyam Pujari and others for nearly 20 minutes.
After rituals, Modi meditated for 10 minutes by holding a bel patra (leaves of bel tree), which are considered sacred for Lord Shiv, and a rudraksh mala in the sanctum sanctorum.
He also sat beside Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiv, and performed puja with folded hands for nearly five minutes.
Later, he offered a donation in a special box.
After the puja, the prime minister took a round of the temple campus accompanied by the chief minister and state governor Mangubhai Patel.
He greeted groups of seers with folded hands.
Earlier, the prime minister arrived at Indore airport from Ahmedabad where he was welcomed by Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra, water resources minister Tulsi Silawat, former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya.
Later, he flew to Ujjain in a chopper where he was received by governor Patel and Chouhan.
The grand event is part of the Rs 856 crore Mahakaleshwar Temple corridor development project.
The first phase of 'Mahakal Lok' has been developed at Rs 316 crore.
The more than 900-metre-long 'Mahakal Lok' corridor, built as one of the largest such corridors in the country, spreads around the old Rudrasagar Lake which has also been revived as part of the redevelopment project around the famous Mahakaleshwar temple.
Two majestic gateways -- Nandi Dwar and Pinaki Dwar -- separated by a short distance, have been erected near the starting point of the corridor, which winds its way to the temple's entrance and offers an aesthetic view along the way.
A colonnade of 108 ornate pillars made of intricately carved sandstones, gushing fountains and a running panel of more than 50 murals depicting stories from the 'Shiv Purana' are among the major highlights of the Mahakal Lok, officials said.
