Siddhavat is an ancient banyan tree and ghat on the Shipra in Ujjain, counted among the four sacred banyans of Hindu tradition. Tradition says it was planted by Parvati. Ujjain’s ancestral rites are associated with this place.
Trees sometimes outlast the temples built beside them. At Siddhavat the tree is the temple: a banyan that devotees treat as a living shrine, on a quiet bend of the river where some of Ujjain’s oldest rituals are still performed.
This page describes the place and its traditions. For the rites, dates and how to book, see our Siddhavat guide.
Tradition holds that Siddhavat was planted by Parvati herself. A banyan lives for centuries and spreads by roots that become new trunks, so a single tree can seem to be many; that is part of why it became a symbol of continuity.
Local belief adds that attempts were made to destroy it, including capping it with iron sheets, and that it grew back. That is the story behind the name Akshayavat, the imperishable banyan.
Hindu tradition honours four great banyans: the Akshayavat of Prayagraj, the banyan at Gaya, the Vanshivat of Vrindavan and the Siddhavat of Ujjain. Each is a place for ancestral rites, and each is held in equal regard.
Ujjain’s place on that list is part of the standing of a city counted among the seven that grant liberation.
The tree stands at a ghat on the Shipra, where the river is wide and slow. Bathing and rites are done at the Shipra’s ghats — Ram Ghat, Triveni, Mangalnath, Siddhavat and others — and Siddhavat is among the ghats named for the Simhastha bathing.
Most visitors come for rites for their ancestors, and the poojari at the ghat will guide them. But the place is also simply restful: a shaded ghat, an old tree, the river. Offering milk over the roots is a local custom.
Siddhavat is crowded during Pitru Paksha and on Amavasya, and quiet at other times. It is near the Kal Bhairav temple on the same bank of the river, and the two are often visited together.
The rites themselves — pind daan, tarpan, Narayan Bali — and how to arrange them are covered in detail in our Siddhavat guide.
Pitra Dosh shanti, Tripindi Shradh and Narayan Bali can be arranged through us. Booking through us is free.
Tradition says Parvati did.
The Akshayavat of Prayagraj, the banyan at Gaya, the Vanshivat of Vrindavan and the Siddhavat of Ujjain.
Akshaya means imperishable. Local belief holds that attempts were made to destroy the tree and it grew back.
In our Siddhavat guide, which covers the rites, the dates and how to book.