With the onset of the Hindu month of Shravan (starts in mid-July) commences the sacred pilgrimage journey, Kanwar Yatra in Uttarakhand and other parts of India as well. During this yatra, millions of devotees of Lord Shiva known as ‘Kanwariya’ from all states and cities of India make a journey to Haridwar, Gangotri, and Gaumukh in the state of Uttarakhand while chanting Bol Bam to gather sacred water from the River Ganga and carry it across hundreds of miles to offer it at their local or popular Shiva temples such as Pura Mahadeva and Augharnath temple in Meerut, and Kashi Vishwanath, Baidyanath, and Deoghar in Jharkhand. During the Kanwar Yatra that starts in the monsoon months, the devotees of Lord Shiva even observe a fast on Mondays.
The devotees head to Haridwar, Gangotri, and Gaumukh in Uttarakhand while carrying a Kanwar on their shoulders. In these sacred places, the devotees take holy bath in the Ganga River. The water when carried back to their hometowns is used for bathing the Shivalingam on the Amavasya (New Moon) day in Shravan month or on the Maha Shivratri day. Large camps and gatherings can be seen in Haridwar and Gangotri during the Kanwar Yatra which is a month-long sacred journey. In fact, the gathering on the ghats of Ganga in Haridwar has been recorded as one of the biggest human gatherings in India.
• During the Kanwar Yatra, the devotees of Lord Shiva carry the ‘Kanwar’ on both of their shoulders.
• The Yatra happens from mid-July to August. Thus, it is almost a month pilgrim journey in which the devotees wear saffron colored clothes and walk barefoot from the chosen destination to collect the holy water of Ganges in Haridwar, Gangotri or Gaumukh.
• Numbers of makeshift accommodations are constructed across the journey where the Kanwarias can take rest for a while.
• Some devotees travel the distance on foot while others on their personal vehicle.
• Throughout the journey, the Kanwarias chant the slogan of ‘Bol Bam’ along with the religious bhajans of Lord Shiva.
• There are numbers of NGOs who offer free services like food, water, tea, or medical help to Kanwarias.
While there are a few sections of society that spread hatred among the communities on basis of religion, there are a few who set an example by standing out of the crowd. This is the case with the youth in UP who have been supporting the Kawad Yatri’s with their journey. This is surely a great message to people who tend to spread fear of a religion in the masses.
It was after the communal riots in that took place in Muzzafar Nagar, that a group came into existence, which was named Paigham-e-Insaniyat. This group works towards helping the pilgrims by providing them basic medication and food, their agenda is to spread harmony and peace in the world.
Paigham-e-Insaniyat has arranged a camp in the center of the city, from where maximum number of pilgrims tends to pass by. The camp has in it around 15 Doctors who provide medication to all the injured pilgrims.
Dr. Abed Saif in an interaction with Siasat told that they organized this camp last year, as he found the wounds in feet of the Kawad Yatri’s very painful and wanted to do something towards that. There is another such organisation called Khudai Khidmadgar which works for the same cause. They have also arranged blood donation camps and other medical facilities. They have been working for the same since 2010.
It’s interesting to know that while the pilgrims start the journey to perform the holy rituals the entire state is shut down. The reason could be that the entire North India is takes a dip in the Holy water of Ganga to purify the souls, mind and body.
Last year the count of the pilgrims was around 2 Crore, which this time seems to be more. And the preparations for this year are possibly more as it is expected by the officials that the count could exceed this time. This is expected to be the biggest procession in the past 15 years.