A report on Haridwar, Ganges and Kumbh Mela

Meandering main Ganga river, known here as Neel Dhara (left) and the Ganga canal (right), passing through Haridwar.
Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 2010
Ganga Aarti at Haridwar
Bhagirathi River at Gangotri.
Prayagraj Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013
Prince Bhagiratha in penance for the salvation of 60,000 of his ancestors.
Devprayag, confluence of Alaknanda (right) and Bhagirathi (left), and beginning of the Ganges proper.
A 2019 stamp dedicated to Kumbh Mela
Gangadhara, Shiva bearing the Descent of the Ganges River as Parvati and Bhagiratha, and the bull Nandi look on. circa 1740
The Himalayan headwaters of the Ganges River in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India.
Prayagraj Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013
Head of the Ganges Canal, Haridwar, ca 1894–1898.
The Gandhi Setu Bridge across the Ganges in Patna, Bihar
A pot (Kumbh) containing Amrita was one of the creative product of the Samudra manthan legend in ancient Hindu texts.
Haridwar from the opposite bank of the Ganges, 1866
A sailboat on the main distributory of the Ganges in Bangladesh, the Padma river.
Large crowds at the Ganga (Ganges) on a major bathing day in the 2019 Kumbh Mela
Haridwar as a part of the United Province, 1903
The Ganges delta in a 2020 satellite image.
The first page of Prayag Snana Vidhi manuscript (Sanskrit, Devanagari script). It describes methods to complete a bathing pilgrimage at Prayag. The manuscript (1674 CE) has a colophon, which states "Copied by Sarvottama, son of Vishvanatha Bhatta, Samvat 1752".
Neeldhara Bird Sanctuary at the main Ganges Canal, before Bhimgoda Barrage, also showing signs of an ancient port.
A 1908 map showing the course of the Ganges and its tributaries.
Hindu pilgrims heading to the Kumbh Mela site
Panoramic view of Har ki Pauri
The River Ganges at Kolkata, with Howrah Bridge in the background
The Ashoka pillar at Allahabad (photo c. 1900) contains many inscriptions since the 3rd-century BCE. Sometime about 1575 CE, Birbal of Akbar's era added an inscription that mentions the "Magh mela at Prayag Tirth Raj".
Panorama of Haridwar city from Mansa Devi Temple
Lower Ganges in Lakshmipur, Bangladesh
Haridwar Kumbh Mela by the English painter J. M. W. Turner. Steel engraving, c. 1850s.
Main bathing Ghat, at Haridwar, in the 1880s.
Hardinge Bridge, Bangladesh, crosses the Ganges-Padma River. It is one of the key sites for measuring streamflow and discharge on the lower Ganges.
A cultural program pandal at Prayag Kumbh Mela (2019)
The Clock Tower on the Malviya Dwip at Har Ki Pauri.
Chromolithograph, Indian woman floating lamps on the Ganges, by William Simpson, 1867
Kumbh Mela – a dip in the waters is one of the key rituals.
The Haridwar Kumbh Mela is held in every 12 years and the date is determined by Hindu astrology.
Descent of Ganga, painting by Raja Ravi Varma c. 1910
Cooking at Kumbh Mela in 2019.
Das Mahavidya temple, Daksheswara Mahadev temple
Preparations for cremations on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi], 1903. The dead are being bathed, wrapped in cloth, and covered with wood. The photograph has a caption, "Who dies in the waters of the Ganges obtains heaven."]
Triveni Sangam during Allahabad Kumbh Mela, c. 2013.
Ropeway to Mansa Devi Temple, Haridwar.
Women and children at a bathing ghat on the Ganges in Banares (Varanasi), 1885.
Kumbh Mela at Haridwar.
Bholanath Sevashram temple by the Ganges, Haridwar
Shiva, as Gangadhara, bearing the Descent of the Ganges, as the goddess Parvati, the sage Bhagiratha, and the bull Nandi look on (circa 1740).
Nashik Pilgrims gather for the Shahi Snan (royal bath) in Ramkund in Dakshin Ganga River, c. 1991.
Haridwar from Chilla Range, Rajaji National Park
A procession of Akharas marching over a makeshift bridge over the Ganges River. Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, 2001.
Naga sadhu at a Kumbh procession (1998).
Shiva statue by the Ganges, across Har-ki-Pauri, Haridwar
Head works of the Ganges canal in Haridwar (1860). Photograph by Samuel Bourne.
Water dip at the Kumbh festival
Shri Chintamani Parshwnath Jain Shwetambar Mandir
The Ganges Canal highlighted in red stretching between its headworks off the Ganges River in Haridwar and its confluences with the Jumna (Yamuna) River in Etawah and with the Ganges in Cawnpore (now Kanpur).
A cultural event at a Kumbh Mela pandal
Pantanjali Yogpeeth
A girl selling plastic containers in Haridwar for carrying Ganges water.
A sadhu at Maha Kumbh, 2013.
Haridwar Railway station
Ganges from Space
Lesser florican (Sypheotides indicus)
The catla (Catla catla) is one of the Indian carp species that support major fisheries in the Ganges
The threatened gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a large fish-eating crocodilian that is harmless to humans
The Gangetic dolphin in a sketch by Whymper and P. Smit, 1894.
People bathing and washing clothes in the Ganges in Varanasi.
The Ganges at Sultanganj.

It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Allahabad (Ganges-Yamuna-Sarasvati rivers confluence), Haridwar (Ganges), Nashik (Godavari), and Ujjain (Shipra).

- Kumbh Mela

The city is situated on the right bank of the Ganges river, at the foothills of the Shivalik ranges.

- Haridwar

The difference in Prayag and Haridwar festivals is about 6 years, and both feature a Maha (major) and Ardha (half) Kumbh Melas.

- Kumbh Mela

After flowing for 256.90 km through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges emerges from the mountains at Rishikesh, then debouches onto the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar.

- Ganges

Mahatma Gandhi visited the campus three times, and stayed in its sprawling and serene campus for extended periods of time, most notably during the 1915 Kumbh mela, followed by a visit in 1916, when on 20 March, he spoke at Gurukul Anniversary.

- Haridwar

This is despite the fact that quarrying has been banned in Kumbh Mela area zone covering 140 km2 area in Haridwar.

- Ganges
Meandering main Ganga river, known here as Neel Dhara (left) and the Ganga canal (right), passing through Haridwar.

1 related topic with Alpha

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David Teniers the Younger: Flemish Pilgrim

Pilgrimage

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Journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience.

Journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience.

David Teniers the Younger: Flemish Pilgrim
Ancient excavated Buddha-image at the Mahaparinirvana Temple, Kushinagar
Tibetans on a pilgrimage to Lhasa, doing full-body prostrations, often for the entire length of the journey
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Israel according to tradition is the site where Jesus was crucified and resurrected
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima is one of the largest pilgrimage sites (Marian shrine) in the world.
Kumbh Mela
Muslim pilgrims circumambulate the black cube of the Kaaba in the Al-Haram Mosque
Arba'een pilgrims in Mehran
Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem during the Ottoman period, 1867
Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, India.
Baishatun Pilgrimage: Mazu and her palanquin
The Yazd Atash Behram in Iran is an Atash Bahram, the highest grade of fire temple in Zoroastrianism

Kumbh_Mela_2013_Sangam,_Allahabd.jpg during Prayag Kumbh Mela]]Kumbh Mela: Kumbh Mela is one of the largest gatherings of humans in the world where pilgrims gather to bathe in a sacred or holy river. The location is rotated among Allahabad, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain.

Kanwar Pilgrimage: The Kanwar is India's largest annual religious pilgrimage. As part of this phenomenon, millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganga (usually in Haridwar, Gangotri, Gaumukh, or Sultanganj) and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in Śiva shrines.