Mahashivratri was peacefully celebrated with faith, devotion and traditional exuberance in Madhya Pradesh and the entire State seems pervaded with the spirit of the destroyer God of the Hindu pantheon.

Since morning, devotees thronged Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar Temple and a shrine in Omkareshwar on the Narmada’s banks in Khandwa District.

In the State capital, the Gufa Temple, Badwale Mahadev, Govindpura's Pashupatinath shrine and Birla Temple witnessed assemblages and lord Shiva’s wedding procession commencing from Badwale Mahadev.

A three-day fair is underway at the historical Bhojpur Mahadev shrine about 30 km from here. The temple, boasting an 18-ft-high shivling, was constructed under the orders of philosophical Paramara ruler Raja Bhoj in the 11th century. Rudra and Mahamrityunjaya rituals were performed from early morning. The devotees   bathed in the nearby Betwa River before offering worship

The Chausath Yogini shrine in the cantonment town Jabalpur was all packed with  the people. The temple is on the Tropic of Cancer and has a five-faced idol of Shiva. The place used be a mutt for tantrics. Queues are observed at the shrine of Mahadev and Goddess Narmada at Amarkantak where that river originates. Several devotees reached a Shiva temple on the Narmada's bank in Hoshangabad and the Trishuleshwar Mahadev shrine atop a mount in the Pachmarhi hill-station. In Gwalior, Indore, Sagar, Rewa, tribal-dominated districts Mandla, Balaghat and Jhabua, milk and water were poured over shivlings. In Agar-Malwa's Shribaijnath Mahadev Temple, the Rudra ritual is underway since morning.

The shrine is unique not only because it is a 'jugalbandi' of northern and southern architectural styles but also due to the fact that it was renovated in 1883 on the initiative of the British Indian Army's lieutenant Colonel Martin who collected Rs15,000 from the public for the purpose.