India: Haridwar

Saturday July 5^th – Sunday July 6^th

We left the Mustache hostel early in the morning to start the long trip up to the holy Hindu city of Haridwar. The bus station, where we were to get our transport, was a far cry from the efficient and modern New Delhi metro. We started getting harassed as soon as we exited the metro and it didn't really stop until we made it to Haridwar. Women kept grabbing our arms and trying to pin little Indian flags to our shirt sleeves. No doubt they would have insisted on payment if they had succeeded. The bus station was hot and full of people. There were about 12-15 bus stands with drivers yelling out where they were headed. There is no discernible schedule and the buses seem to leave when they have enough people. After asking around we found that the air-conditioned bus was full so we had to opt for the cheaper, but far less comfortable, non-AC bus. We all had our big packs so it was a battle to get on the bus and our bags but into the overhead compartment. As I was waiting my turn to load my bag, I turned around and saw that two women had entered the bus behind me. On closer inspection I suspected the one in back was actually a man and when I turned my attention to the one right behind me I felt pretty sure they both were. The closer one grabbed my forearm and gave me what he thought was a seductive smile. I yanked my arm away and jerked my head towards the door. They ran off giggling.

At each stop, young men come on to the bus and try to sell everything from coconuts to fans to popcorn and water. They all hop off before we get moving again. At one point we heard a loud noise and then a periodic thumping sound as the bus began to slow down. We thought it was a blown tire but it turned out that the buses re-tread the tires with rubber stuck to the outside of them. A large junk had ripped off so the driver just whipped out a knife and cut off the flap and we were on the road in no time.

After the long, and sweaty six-hour ride we came into Haridwar. The city is holy to Hindus for a number of reasons. It is the spot where the holy Ganges river (which flows from the hair of the god Shiva) emerges from the Himalayas out into the plains. There is also a section of the river that is separated from the rest in a small, fast-flowing canal, known as Har-ki-pairi which means the footstep of god and is the place in Hindu mythology where some god dropped some divine nector and left a footprint. The spot on the Ganges is also one of three places where you can dump the ashes of the deceased and not be obligated to do annual death rituals for that person. There are many other reasons as well but these are the only ones that I know of.

The streets of Haridwar are filled with vendors selling all sorts of religious items such as brass pots to hold water from the river, ground up red powder to mark a tilak on your forehead, and thousands of different statues of the many Hindu gods. People were also selling toys for all the little kids that come with their families on this holy pilgrimage. The atmosphere is similar to that of a carnival with a lot of music noise and street food. In the evening as the day begins to cool off, nearly everyone in the city starts to head toward the river bank at Har-ki-pairi to sing devotional prayers and to bath themselves in the holy river.

We grabbed an auto rickshaw and made it to an island that is in the middle of the Ganges on one side of the Har-ki-pairi. It was dusk, and as the sun began to set, a number of priests on the far bank began lighting large torches and chanting the devotional prayers. There were thousands of people on either side of the canal with many of the people chanting along, singing their devotions. Being in the crowd felt like standing at a concert at a music festival. It was crowded and everyone was trying to get the best view of the river. A lot of people had their phones out, recording the holy seen. On the far bank people began to bath in the river. The men remove clothes down to their underwear while women bath wearing their entire saris (nudity is very frowned upon in modern India). We grabbed a vantage point on a bridge that crossed the canal and witnessed all the hundreds of people bathing and getting blessed by the many holy men.

Sagar looking fresh before heading to the footstep of god

In the auto on our way

This is the island that acted as our vantage point. The canal that everyone bathes in is on the left and you can see a giant statue of Shiva in the distance on the right.

Chains hanging under the bridge downstream of the bathing spot. They are there so people can grab them if they get swept away by the river.

The holy bathing spot, Har-Ki-Prairi. The holy men were just starting to light their fires.

When the sun had finally set, the chanting ceased but people continued to bath in the river. Everyone began to disperse back on to the main road which was alive with sights and sounds. We passed temple of Hanuman, the monkey god, which had monkeys running around the power lines and going in and out of the temple. There is a story in Hinduism where Hanuman raised an army of monkeys to build a bridge to Sri Lanka to assist in a war raised by the god, Ram. Ever since this army, monkeys have always stayed near the temples of Hanuman. It is true that every shrine to Hanuman we have seen so far has had monkeys living around it, but my guess is that they show up because people feed them at these temples. We ate some dinner and crashed for the night.

Some people observing the festivities

The sunset bathing coming to an end. Photo cred: Leslie

Getting the holy blessing

The next morning we wanted to check out one of the Oldest Hindu temples in the area. We walked 2 km to the base of a large hill that had the temple at the top. We took the 20 min walk up an incredibly steep path and were all drenched in sweat by the time we made it. The temple was small and relatively unimpressive, but one of the rock-carved shrines to the wish-fulfilling goddess, Mans Devi, was supposedly several thousand years old. There were many monkeys at the top of the temple who steel food from tourists. I took a picture of one right before he hissed at me and scared me off. We took the cable cars down and grabbed an autorickshaw back to the hotel and another to go upstream another 25 km to the second holy city of Rishikesh.