We are at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar I'm sitting right in front of the flowing river Ganges A lot of people are taking a dip in the holy water. So, let's start our Haridwar journey from Har ki Pauri. After taking a dip in the holy water of Ganges, It is divine to feast on poori-chholey and halwa. Mansa Devi Temple is hardly 1km from Har ki Pauri. You can take a trolley to the temple, or can walk the way as well. Many come here to pray for a boon. And, once their wishes are fulfilled, they visit here again and untie the sacred thread they had tied before. This is how it happens here. Now, we are on our way to Chandi Devi Temple. This is one of the three main holy shrines, which are Mansa Devi, Maya Devi, and Chandi Devi From here, we can have a bird's eye view of Haridwar And, even Mansa Devi Temple is clearly visible. After the battle of Mahabharata, Bheema is said to have meditated here for 12 years! Bheema had banged his knees in the ground which surfaced the water. So, this place is called Bhimgoda in Haridwar. In Har ki Pauri, both during morning as well as evening, there's an aarti (ritual of worship) for Goddess Ganga. Thousands come to witness this from far away! The history of Maya Devi Temple dates back to the 11th Century! This temple is also called the Shakti Peetha in Haridwar! I'm with the priest near Har ki Pauri. Sir, do tell us about family records. The priests in Haridwar, have family records of different communities dating up to 250-300 years ago. If anyone wants to reach out or know more about it, then with the help of priests, they can access these records at Kusha Ghat!.
For example, this is a record... Fantastic! There are two main attractions here... Rudraksha Tree and a temple, where the Shivling is made of Mercury! It is also known as Parad Shivling Temple in Haridwar. Sir, do you have a rudraksha (prayer beads) garland? Yes, we have these in different sizes - small and big. How do we differentiate quality in this? Quality depends on size as well. These come in varieties from one-face to 21-face beads. So, starting from INR 50 or 100, these can cost upto lakhs. Daksheswara Mahadev Temple or Kankhal Tirtha is Lord Shiva's affinal home! King Daksha performed a yajna(ritual) to insult Lord Shiva. which resulted in Lord Shiva having King Daksha beheaded. Post this, with grace of the other Lords... King Daksha was given life once again by attaching the head of a goat. He was called Mahamrityunjaya which means the one who has conquered death! In Haridwar, along with the temple visits, You can also do a couple of adventure activities. Tomorrow morning I plan to go to Rajaji National Park... which is at a distance of 12-13kms in Chilla Range. I'll go for a Jungle safari there, and after that... In the second half, I'm going for air safari! For now, let's go to Mathura Pedewalla, an old shop. I'll pack some peda (sweet) for my home. Rajaji National Park is around half an hour from Haridwar and today, I'm going there for jungle safari. If you don't have much interest in adventure activities, and... you're more interested in tourist-related activities, then we have a separate post. Do check the post comment section bellow. See you soon! Our Haridwar trip... is complete & we are leaving back to Delhi. That's it for now. Take care!
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