Haridwar

Haridwar is one of the most visited holy city of Hindu pilgrims. It is a part of Uttarakhand, which is famously called DevBhoomi or Divine Land. I have visited Haridwar many a times during my days at IIT Roorkee, which is just 25 kms away from here. But this time, I managed to travel the breadth and width of Haridwar to the greater extent. Haridwar is well connected by train and bus routes with Delhi and Dehradun. One can easily find an inter-state transport bus to Haridwar on regular basis. We took bus from Roorkee and it took us around 40 minutes to finally arrive at this Holy city. There is a subtle change in the atmosphere once you drop down at Haridwar bus depot or railway station. I have never seen so many pilgrims in any holy place in India, and they keep coming in all the seasons throughout the year. It is believed that the revenues earned from Haridwar plays a major role in state Uttarakhand's budget.

Har ki Paudi

There are many places to visit in Haridwar and surrounding area, but your trip to Haridwar is incomplete unless you visit the famous Har ki Paudi(or Har ki Pauri) ganga ghat. This place has its own value in Hindu mythology and every Hindu wish to visit this place once in his/her life time. From dawn to just before dusk, the atmosphere is pretty normal here. People come and take a dip in the river Ganges (Ganga) at the nicely constructed ghat. As the sunset approaches, more and more people start gathering here for the prayer of river Ganga. There are a few temples on the ghat of Har ki Paudi, mainly of river Ganga or of Lord Shankar (father of Ganga). The priests come out of these temples to perform worship of Ganga. This atmosphere is pleasant to the eyes. The prayers continue for about 40 minutes and then slowly crowd disperses. The sight of Mansa devi temple on top of the hill is also a worth watch from Har ki Paudi during evening.

Temples

While Har ki Paudi remains the main tourist and religious spot in Haridwar, there are many temples in Haridwar which are also worth visiting. We heard from someone that there are so many temples in Haridwar that it will take more than a week to visit them all! Luckily we got a very good rickshaw chalak who knew of the good temples there and took us there for nominal charges. We visited 7 temples in 3 hours and I must say, some of them are really unique and nicely built. I am writing here about the temples I liked the most.

First let me talk about Vaishno devi temple, which is also called Bharat Darshan. I will refer to it as Vaishno devi temple to avoid confusion with another temple I'll write later. Vaishno devi temple is about three storey in height. From the entrance you can see big idols of Hanumanji, Ganeshji and Surya rath. With nominal fees one can enter in the temple. Then we have to follow a specific route which takes you to all the Gods and Goddesses of India and finally to Vaishno devi tunnel. One has to crawl through the tunnel to see Mata Vaishno deviand take her blessings. The whole idea of this temple is to give devotee a feel of original Vaishno devi trip.

The second temple, which is also the last one we visited, is Bharat Mata temple. This temple is totally different from all the temples you might have seen in your lifetime. It is built specifically to give tribute to Bharat Mata or India. It is very tall, having 7 floors. Each floor is dedicated to a particular element of Indian culture. At one floor you will find all the Gods, at another all Goddesses. There are also floors for our freedom fighters, ancient heroes and noble people. There is floor which gives you an overview of all the Indian states and their cultures, and of different religions. In short, the entire temple is like a mini Bharat.