The helminths of freshwater fishes are a genuine part of aquatic biodiversity, yet for much of central India we still know very little about which parasites occur in which hosts, or how these assemblages are put together. The present study was undertaken to address this gap for Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh. We examined the diversity, host associations, abundance, and pooled community structure of helminth parasites in six freshwater fish species drawn from two water bodies, Munj Talab and Jeerabad Dam. Fishes were collected between November 2023 and October 2025. Of the 680 fishes obtained, 540 were found suitable and were taken up for detailed parasitological examination. Helminths were recovered by external and internal examination, then preserved, stained, mounted, and identified on the basis of morphological characters. In all, 336 fishes carried infection, giving an overall prevalence of 62.22%. A total of 968 helminth individuals were recovered, representing nine genus-level taxa, three trematodes, two cestodes, three nematodes, and one acanthocephalan. Numerically, nematodes led the assemblage (330 individuals; 34.09%), followed by trematodes (303; 31.30%), cestodes (245; 25.31%), and acanthocephalans (90; 9.30%). Camallanus sp. was the single most abundant taxon (148; 15.29%), whereas Clinostomum sp. was the least abundant (80; 8.26%). Among the hosts, Channa striata and Channa punctata each yielded six recorded taxa, while Cirrhinus mrigala yielded only one. Infection status differed significantly across the six host species (χ² = 39.706, df = 5, p < 0.001; Cramér’s V = 0.271). For the pooled assemblage, the Shannon diversity index was 2.177, Simpson dominance 0.116, Simpson diversity 0.884, and Pielou’s evenness 0.991. Taken together, these values describe a diverse and remarkably even helminth assemblage, in which the predatory snakeheads carried broader host associations than the cyprinids examined alongside them. The study offers baseline information that should prove useful for fish-parasite biodiversity assessment and for the monitoring of freshwater fish health in Dhar district.