Pick up from your hotel for full day excursion to visit Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga & Asirgarh Fort (180kms/ 3hrs approx one way).

Omkareshwar home to one of the 12 jyotirlinga temples in the world. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the temple is nestled in the Omkar mountain, an island in the middle of River Narmada. The temple has a large sabha mandap (prayer hall) standing on 60 brown huge stone pillars. The five storeys of the temple have different deities each and three prayer services are conducted in the temple everyday. While the morning prayer is done by the temple trust, the other two prayer meetings are held by the priests of the Holkar and Scindia states. The temple draws pilgrims in large numbers who also visit the nearby Mamleshwar temple. Taking a dip in the Narmada river before going inside the temple is considered auspicious. The ancient shivling in the temple is barricaded by a glass box to avoid destruction.

Asirgarh Fort was constructed by Asa Ahir, in the Satpura Range on the apex of Satpura Mountain. Its height is about 259.1 meter from the base and from sea level 701 meter high. It is actually formed in 3 parts and every part has its specific name. "Asirgarh" is the first part, second part is "Kamargarh" and last third part is called "Malaygarh". Fort expands more than 60 acres area, There is a lord Shiva temple, a gurudwara & a mosque inside the grand fort.

If we go by records, it can also be seen that the fort was never conquered by force. Quite interestingly, each level of fortification was a fort in itself. You will see that the walls of the fort run all around the hill, which are further riddled with sentry points at various places. Therefore, if any king wanted to overthrow the one stationed at Asirgarh Fort, he had to conquer not one but three forts. Even the greatest Mughal Emperor, Akbar, had to experience the might of this fort. After being engaged for six months of warfare, he finally realised that it was not possible to conquer the fort by might. The canons of the fort were stationed so high on the hill that they were out of range for the Mughal guns, which in turn rained fire on Akbar’s army, making him switch to another tactic. He retreated with his army, out of the range of Farooqui cannons, and surrounded the hill with more than 5 lakh men and laid a siege. Within a year, supplies inside the fort ran out, which was followed by mass surrender. Later on, it was found that the royal family along with other brave and loyal warriors escaped via an unknown route and were never seen again. So, the fort rightly holds the title of being the ‘impregnable’ fort.

Asirgarh Fort is beleaved to be a haunted fort. As the folklore has it, Ashwathama killed all the five Pandava sons and even tried to kill Abhimanyu’s son Pareekshit, while he was still in his mother’s womb to avenge his father Guru Dronacharya's death. As a result, Lord Krishna cursed Ashwathama and said that he will bear the load of all people’s misdeeds on his shoulder, and he will roam around alone like an apparition without getting any affection or sympathy. This curse is said to continue till the end of Kalyuga. Local people still believe that Ashwathama has been roaming around Asirgarh Fort for the past 5000 years. Some people also believe that Ashwathama wanders around the fort during night time, and stops people for turmeric and oil to heal his bleeding forehead. Till date, it is said that anybody, who has seen him has either lost his mental stability or gone mad.

After sightseeing drive back to Indore and drop off to your hotel.