Haridwar
Haridwar | ||
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State : | India | |
State : | Uttarakhand | |
District : | Haridwar | |
Location : | 29 ° 58 ′ N , 78 ° 10 ′ E | |
Height : | 288 m | |
Area : | 12.3 km² | |
Inhabitants : - Agglomeration : |
228,832 (2011) 310,796 (2011) |
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Population density : | 18,604 inhabitants / km² | |
Website : | www.nagarnigamharidwar.com | |
View over the city |
Haridwar ( Hindi : हरिद्वार , Haridvār ; also Hardwar ) is a city in the state of Uttarakhand in India with about 230,000 inhabitants (2011 census).
It is the administrative seat of the Haridwar district and is located on the Ganges at an altitude of 288 m .
In Hinduism it is a place of pilgrimage and is one of the seven holy cities. The main destination of the pilgrims is the Hari-ki-Pauri. In Brahmakund the believers imagine that the heavenly waters flow into the Ganges. A temple here is said to contain the footprint of Vishnu. The place is significant because the entrance of the corridor into the plain is seen here.
Every 12 years a large religious festival, the Kumbh Mela, takes place in Haridwar on the banks of the river Ganges, which is sacred to Hindus . The cities of Haridwar, Prayagraj , Nashik and Ujjain host the Kumbh Mela alternately every three years , i.e. every twelve years. The last Kumbh Mela in Haridwar took place in March and April 2010 and was attended by 40 million people, ten million of whom gathered for the bath in the Ganges on the main day alone.
Siwalik Hill rises above Haridwar with the temple of Manasa Devi , to which a cable car leads. On the Leel Parbat hill on the opposite side of the river is the temple of the Chandi Devi.
About 20 km upstream from Haridwar is the pilgrimage site of Rishikesh , which is famous for its ashrams and temples. He became known when The Beatles meditated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s .