INDIA: Haridwar
Haridwar located 214 km north of
Delhi, is one of four holy bathing cities in India. The town is also called
by its old name Gangadvar- Door of the Ganges - since this is where the
sacred river bursts out of the mountains onto the northern plains. Hindu
mythology believes that Haridwar is one of the spots where drops of amrit nectar, the elixir of immortality were spilled from a
pitcher carried by the celestial bird Garuda - a vehicle of Lord Vishnu-and that each place where this happened (the others are Ujian, Allahabad and Nasik)
became a sacred bathing site. The district of Haridwar`s normal population
of 15 million is swollen by millions more coming to worship and to wash
away their sins to attain moksha - purity. The greatest assemblage of
pilgrims takes place on Ist of Baisakhi the start of the Hindu solar year.
Then each 6 years an Ardh Kumbh-Mela occurs
when up to 20 million people attend the rituals. (the next in Haridwar will
be in 2010). The focus of attention is the Daksheswara Shiva Temple and the
sacred Hari-kecharan ghat which bears a footprint of Hari - Vishnu - in the
stone. Each pilgrim struggles to be the first to plunge into the water as
soon as astrologers announce the propitious moment. Following evening
prayers, worshippers launch tiny floral
boats containing flickering candles in memory of the dead. Haridwar is a deeply spiritual place.
with several other old temples to Narayana - the water form of Vishnu and Maha-Devi,
the Mother Goddess. Rituals complete, many pilgrims proceed
from Haridwar to the Shiva temple of Kedarnath and to Badrinath
high in the Himalayan massif.