Each year, millions await the holy pilgrimage to the banks of the holy river Ganga and the steps of sacred Lord Shiva shrines.
Consensus is yet to be reached on whether it is safe for the annual pilgrimage of Kanwar Yatra to be undertaken in 2021. While Uttar Pradesh govt decided to allow the annual pilgrimage to take place, with specific COVID-19 guidelines and reduced volume of pilgrims, Uttarakhand govt decided to cancel the Kanwar Yatra for 2021.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also requested his counterpart UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to reconsider his decision to allow the pilgrimage. The Supreme Court has also taken suo moto cognizance of the decision.
“Kanwar Yatra is a matter of faith but God would not want people to lose their lives for the faith. Every life is precious,” CM Dhami had told the media.
Devotees, known as Kanwariyas, last made the journey in 2019 as the Kanwar Yatra for 2020 was also cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is the Kanwar Yatra?
The Kanwar Yatra is a religious practice where thousands of devotees travel hundreds of miles to fetch holy water from the Ganga and retake the journey back to make offerings at different local shrines of Lord Shiva. The annual pilgrimage is made in July, the exact date time being the beginning of the “Shravan” month of the Hindu calendar.
The word ‘Kanwar’ literally means a device used to fetch water made up of a long pole with two equal sized containers at both ends. The devotees travel carrying the structure on their shoulders, and hence, are called Kanwariyas.
Religious significance the Kanwar Yatra
The earliest reference to the practice is in the Hindu Puranas, when Ravana, while worshipping Lord Shiva in the Treta Yug, fetched the holy water of the Ganga in a kanwar as an offering.
This is connected to an event known as ‘Samudramanthan’ mentioned in ancient Indian texts where Lord Shiva consumed poison to save the world. The offering of the holy water is made to relieve Lord Shiva of the negative energy from the poison.
Who are the Kanwariyas?
Kanwar Yatra is the largest religious gathering that takes place in India each year with the numbers of pilgrims having touched as high as 10 to 12 million. Kanwariyas are Lord Shiva’s devotees who come majorly from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Haryana, as well as from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Odisha and Jharkhand.
They travel wearing saffron-coloured attire and many walk barefoot. Supporters, friends and family also sometimes travel alongside them to provide assistance in their long devotional journey. Several voluntary organizations set up camps along the route to provide food and shelter to the pilgrims. Kanwariyas walking barefoot alongside other devotees on the Kanwar Yatra in cars, trucks, cycles and other vehicles is a common site on highways in many Indian states.
Where do they go?
The holy water is fetched from Ganga flowing at 4 places of Hindu pilgrimage. Three of these are in Uttarakhand – Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri, along with Sultanganj in Bihar.
The offerings are made to several local shrines across Indian states as well as a few specific shrines like Pura Mahadeva, Augharnath and Kashi Vishwanath in Uttar Pradesh and Baidyanath and Deoghar in Jharkhand.
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 "DNA Explainer: What is the Kanwar Yatra? Who are Kanwariyas? Where do they go?")
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