Haridwar and Rishikesh

Shiva at entrance to Haridwar

Arrived in Haridwar at 8.30am, dropped my bag at a tourist office/hotel and went straight to bathe in the Ganges beside Hari-Ki-Ghat (literally meaning the feet of God), considered the most auspicious place to bathe here. Since Haridwar is where the Ganges leaves the mountains to flow down to the great plains below, I was told it would be cold. It was a little cold, but swimming in summer in Ireland is miles colder.

Main Bathing Ghat, Hari-Ki -Pauri

Haridwar, meaning ‘Gateway to God” and is also known as  Hardwar. The nuance in spelling reflects the preference of Vaishnava and Shaivite understanding of God as Vishnu ( ‘Hari’) or as   Shiva (Har).

Haridwar is one of four  sacred sites where the Kumbha Mela (pitcher festival) is held every 12 years (Prayag/Allahabad), Nasik and Ujjain are the others). The festival rotates between these four places with lesser celebrations every six years. The Kumba Mela story  describes how immortal nectar fell from the heavens at this place and I’d love to tell you about it, but alas I have not the time.

Spending only six hours in Haridwar, visiting places on a rickshaw, I decided to move on to Rishikesh as it promised to be closer to the mountains. That’s all I needed to hear and it’s only one hour away by bus. I am also acutely aware that my precious time in India is fast running out and am greedy to see as much as I can.

Everyone is bathing here

So, after my bus ran over someone on a motor cycle, (luckily only the bike got damaged), an angry mob gathering to adjudicate, and another bus rescuing me from stagnation, I arrived in Rishikesh and booked into a place just over looking the Ganges.

I am now in Rishikesh  racing to fill a few blanks before I leave for Badrinath  tomorrow at 4am. From there I hope to go to Kedarnath and then Gangotri and Gomukh, the source of the Ganges.

There are many variables involved in the time it will take to do this, not least the amount of rain that falls and possible landslides that could block roads. It lashed more heavily than I’ve yet seen rain lash this evening, so I hope all will be well higher up. It takes about 12 hours on a bus to get to Badrinath.

Lakshman Jhula Bridge Rishikesh

Rishikesh rests at the foothills of the big ones yet  even these hills  are huge and covered with forests and there’s a huge rocky Ganges gully crashing right through them. Raw …wild…beauty.

Rishikesh

It feels as if nature is in control here and not simply peeping through from pockets of respite from human hands here and there. And even though the Beatles since their Maharishi days have left a New Age legacy here, with lots of Western yoga people, yoga pants, massage, crystals, tarot cards, horoscopes, and meaningful conversations on ashram roof-tops everywhere, it is still a raw beautiful place.

For me mountains  force  ’uplift’…..  physically and metaphysically and the lure of the real sky scrapers is almost palpable.  I cannot think of any more fitting place to journey towards a temple and hopefully I will visit Shiva in Kedarnath and Vishnu in Badrinatha and finally get to Gomukh.

Actually I’ve had to revise the order of my travel as now you need a permit to walk the 18kms to Gomukh. So temples first. So I will be off-line for a few days as I travel through the mountains.

Mother Ganga in Rishikesh