Ujjain ( (listen), Hindustani pronunciation: [ʊd͡ːʒɛːn]) is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain division. It is one of the Hindu pilgrimage centres of Sapta Puri famous for the Kumbh Mela held there every 12 years. The famous temple of Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga is located in the center of the city.
An ancient city situated on the eastern bank of the Shipra River, Ujjain was the most prominent city on the Malwa plateau of central India for much of its history. It emerged as the political centre of central India around 600 BCE. It was the capital of the ancient Avanti kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It remained an important political, commercial and cultural centre of central India until the early 19th century, when the British administrators decided to develop Indore as an alternative to it. Ujjain continues to be an important place of pilgrimage for Shaivites, Vaishnavites and followers of Shakta.Ujjain has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission.


Ujjain is well connected to other parts of the country by national and state highways. It is about from New Delhi, from Indore, and about from Bhopal. The city has a small airport (Bajirao) with daily flights to Mumbai and Delhi operated by Air India Regional Services Ltd., which was upgraded in 2015–16 for handling larger aircraft such as the ATR-72. Ujjain has direct rail links to all major cities in India; it also has air connections with Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata via Vadodara Airport near Ahmedabad or through Jaipur Airport on a seasonal basis only .

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