Updated 22 September 2026
The Bhasma Aarti runs from 4:00 to 6:00 every morning. Seats are limited, they go through one official portal, and since April 2026 there is no counter in Ujjain where you can pick up a free permit instead.
Two booking windows
The temple opens seats in two batches, both at 8:00 in the morning and both first come, first served:
| Window | Opens | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Advance | 08:00 on the 1st of the previous month | Bookings for the whole of October open on 1 September |
| Tatkal | 08:00 on the day before | For an aarti on 21 September, the window opens on 20 September |
Booking runs at shrimahakaleshwar.mp.gov.in after a login with your mobile number and an OTP. Each traveller needs an ID document, and the name on the permit has to match the ID you bring.
The advance window used to open three months ahead; it moved to one month in 2024. If a page tells you to book ninety days out, it has not been updated.
What it costs
The portal shows prices only after login, so we cannot quote them from the source. Indian newspapers reporting on the April 2026 change give ₹200 per person for the online Bhasma Aarti booking. Two other paid options exist and are separate from it: a quick-darshan ticket at a reported ₹250, and a seated place at the evening Sandhya or Shayan aarti, also ₹250, introduced in February 2026. Moving darshan during those aartis stays free.
Treat all three figures as reported rather than confirmed, and check on the portal before you pay anywhere else.
The offline permit is gone
Until April 2026 you could queue at a counter in Ujjain the previous day for a free permit — roughly 300 a day. That counter was closed and the quota moved into the online Tatkal window. Anyone offering to "arrange" a permit locally for a fee is not working with the temple.
What to wear
Men are expected in a dhoti or soyla, women in a saree or a salwar suit. This is enforced at the entry for the aarti, and shops around the temple rent the garments if you arrive without them.
Where you will actually sit
The aarti is watched from the hall outside the sanctum. Nobody enters the garbhagriha — it has been closed to the public since July 2023, and the Supreme Court declined to reopen the question in January 2026. A booking gives you a place for the ritual, not access to the lingam.
Shravan and Shivratri change the clock
In Shravan and Bhadrapada the doors open earlier: the aarti runs 3:00 to 5:00, and on Mondays 2:30 to 4:30. Maha Shivratri has an extra afternoon Bhasma Aarti after the Sehra Darshan, the only time in the year it happens outside the morning slot. Dates are in the calendar.