“Jai Mahakal”: Virat Kohli chants Lord Shiva’s name after Mahakaleshwar Darshan with Anushka Sharma

Former India captain Virat Kohli paid a visit to Mahakaleshwar Temple after the culmination of third Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match against Australia in Indore yesterday.

Situated in Ujjain (57 km from Indore), another city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the renowned Mahakaleshwar Temple had witnessed the presence of India batter KL Rahul before the start of the recently concluded match.

In the middle of a lean patch, Rahul was left out of the Indian Playing XI for the third Test. Kohli, meanwhile, was part of two batting collapses within as many days as India lost their third Test in the last one decade on Friday.

Much like Rahul visiting the temple with wife-actor Athiya Shetty, Kohli was also accompanied by wife-actor Anushka Sharma. It is not for the first time when Virat and Anushka have traveled together to a religious place in the last few months.

Kohli, who has credited Sharma for seeing his raw side during a professional rut until last year, hasn’t missed an opportunity of offering a prayer at various religious spots in the country namely Neem Karoli Baba, Dayanand Giri Ashram etc. Kohli, who had claimed to not be Pooja-Paath types in 2016, appears to have underwent quite a transformation on a religious front in the last year or so.

Virat Kohli chants Lord Shiva’s name after Mahakaleshwar Darshan with Anushka Sharma

Although photos from Virat and Anushka’s trip to Ujjain had been doing the rounds across social media platforms since last night, a latest video sees the two coming out of the temple surrounded by a large gathering.

“Jai Mahakal [All hail Lord Shiva],” Kohli told reporters in the viral video.

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“Darshan ke liye aaye the aur bahut ache darshan hue [We had come to offer prayers and were successful in doing so],” Sharma told reporters while following Kohli to make an exit.

What is the significance of Mahakaleshwar Temple?

Mahakaleshwar Tempe is an illustrious temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas shrines in the country. Maharashtra is the only Indian state with as many as three Jyotirlingas. On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have a couple of Jyotirlingas. The remaining five temples are situated in states named Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.