Kanwar Yatra- Devotees walk on foot with water on their shoulders

I live in a place close to NH-58 that connects our National capital New Delhi with Mussorie, Dehradun, Haridwar in Uttrakhand one of the many Himalayan states in India. When I mentioned Kanwar Yatra in one of my recent posts one of my online friends asked about it. I am sure she knows all about it but hasn’t come across this particular term about this world renowned Kanwar Yatra also called as Kanvad Yatra.

In fact it is an annual pilgrimage journey completed twice every year but the one in this season is more important and attracts millions of devotees to Haridwar, Gangotri the origin of River Ganges in Himalaya for bringing holy water to their native places to worship Lord Shiva. I will not go in the detail of the story behind this as most of you will not understand the meaning being from different cultures and countries.

Famous Shiva Temples in Western UP

We can only tell you that there are two of the most famous Shiva temples in our area where devotees reach on the auspicious day of Shivaratri that is today on 1st of August 2016 this year. The places are Augharnath Temple in Meerut city and Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar of Bihar and Ujjain of MP. One of the most visited kanwar temples is Pura Mahadev now in Baghpat district which was also a sub-division of Meerut district not so long ago.

The millions of devotes begin gathering in Haridwar, Rishikesh or Gangotri, according to their distance as some of them cover 600 KM or above by walking the whole distance with Ganga water canes on their shoulder. Some of them cover the entire distance running solo or in groups. Some people who cannot walk this distance go by riding bikes but most of the devotees cover the entire distance on foot. Some use bikes, motorbikes or even four wheelers though.

The local administration restricts the use of highway for heavy vehicles in the first phase, say about a week or so before and as the number of traffic increases all vehicular traffic is stopped from playing. Today is the first day when there is no heavy traffic on the roads although the number of devotees is yet to pick up. Probably it will be at the peak from 26th when all traffic will be stopped but only devotees will be allowed on the road.

The trend is picking up momentum by every passing year as people from surrounding states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh including young and old, children and women are increasing a rapid rate. I have never participated in this religious walk but it certainly is a treat to watch when thousands of devotees pass through chanting religious slogans and walking briskly having water canes/pots carried in decorated carriers on their shoulders.

Today is the main Shivaratri day so everything will come to an end until next year or to some extent until the winter Shivaratri time which does not attracts as many Kanwar pilgrims as many as during this season.

I took this photo a week before last year’s Yatra when fewer devotees had started their journey