Waters benign migrate to bestow glory

Sandeep Rawat 

Tribune News Service 

Haridwar, January 31

“I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganga —astronomy, astrology, spiritualism, etc. It is very important to note that some 2,500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganga to learn geometry.” —Francis M. Voltaire

The refulgent waters of goodness and glory flowing from Gaumukh in the Garhwal Himalayas migrate ceaselessly downhill to bestow happiness, peace and redemption to the devout. The Indian religious ethos and theology is replete with devotional pay out to the Ganga. Great saints have praised her as the foremost in the point of sanctity, the greatest of benefactors who sings a holy song conveying the mystery of truth to the one with an ardent heart and a pure intention. Adoration is the essence of religion.

The Ganga inspires us to shake off our wanderings and confusions and rise above the current of nature. Liberation is accomplished by wisdom, but wisdom does not spring without the purification of the heart. The Ganga, the divine elect, promises purification of the heart to obtain the final satisfaction. The Ganga takes upon herself the burden of the redemption of the whole humanity. With her blessings, the individual born a child of nature grows up into his spiritual manhood and becomes a child of light. She also offers the finest bed to the departed soul. 

“The brook runs down in sending up our life, The sun runs down in sending up the brook, And there is something sending up the sun, It is backward motion towards the source”—Robert Frost (West Running Brook)

Since ages, the Ganga has bestowed piousness to places situated on her banks and these have developed into famous pilgrimage places. Communities of saints have lived along her banks since time immemorial and shrines built. Haridwar, situated on the banks of the Ganga, has been a hub of spirituality, pilgrimage and Kumbh.

In Vedic scriptures, reference of Haridwar or ‘Ganga Dwar’ has been made particularly in “Padam Puran”, “Narad Puran” and other scriptures written during the 2nd and 4th century BC. Several shrines in Haridwar are referred to in these two “puranas”.

Noted Vedic expert Acharya Dr Vishnu Dutt Rakesh says other names of Haridwar found in the earlier scriptures and epics refer to Haridwar as “Mayapur”, “Harh-dwar”, and “Moksh Dwar”.

Noted Chinese scholar Hsuan Tsang, who was invited by King Harshwardhan in 734 AD, refers to the Haridwar area as “Moyulu”.

Dr Vishnu Dutt says “Moyulu” is similar to “Mayapur”, which Hsuan Tsang probably would have pronounced so and cited the densely populated Ganga segment amid mountainous terrain on both sides, spread over about 3.5 miles.

The Chinese traveller also stated that in this part of the region the Ganga was also known as “Maha Bhadra”. 

According to “Travels of Hsuan Tsang”, he reached Kannauj via Behat and Mayapur situated on the banks of the Ganga.

Buddhist monks used to refer to Haridwar as “Aho Ganga”, as the Ganga arrives in the plains here for the first time from the Himalayas.

Noted poet Chand Bardai, a courtier of King Prithviraj Chauhan, in “Prithviraj Raso” refers to the area as “Harh-dwar”. A 9th century document available with the archaeological department of King Bauk of Mandaur, Jodhpur, states that the Gurjara Pratihara king after handing over the empire to his son had left for “Ganga Dwar” where he meditated for 18 years before attaining ‘moksha’.

Acharya Vishnu Dutt says Tughlaq dynasty king Amir Jafar Tamoor had attacked Dehradun-Mayapur, a reference of which is found in Ameer’s autobiography “Malfuzat-e-Taimur”. He refered to Ganga valley as Kutila valley and a reservoir named as “Dariya-e-Kutila”, which is Kupila, just beneath the Chandi mountain terrain, on Neel Dhara opposite Har-ki-Pauri.

In the Mughal era, during King Akbar’s empire, Haridwar was a ‘pargana’ in revenue terms, along with Roorkee, which is 24 km from Haridwar city.

In “Ain-e-Akbari”, there is a reference of Ganga jal from Haridwar being sent for drinking to King Akbar. In sealed pots on camelback, Ganga water was fetched on a regular basis.  

Haridwar presents a mini-India culture. Though it is a prominent Hindu religious city, people belonging to different regions, religions and communities live here in peace and harmony. A part of the world famous Rajaji Tiger Reserve also falls in the district surrounded by mountainous terrain. The 242-mile Ganga canal, which the British had constructed, also starts from the Bhimgoda barrage at Haridwar.

The work on the Ganga canal began under Colonel Proby Cautley in 1842. However, it was discontinued after a few years. The work began again in 1847. The then Governor General Lord Dalhousie inaugurated the canal on April 8, 1854. It provides water for drinking and irrigation purposes to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

A half a kilometre aqueduct over the Solani sub-tributary at Roorkee that raises the Ganga canal, known as Ganga nahar, 25 metres above the river is a unique feature of the canal.

Movement for demerger of Haridwar dist from Uttarakhand buried quietly

The politics of keeping Haridwar district out of Uttarakhand has been quietly buried. After the formation of Uttarakhand on November 9, 2000, there was a strong movement in Haridwar district for its inclusion in the mother state of Uttar Pradesh.

The politics reached its crescendo when the demand for taking out Haridwar district from Uttarakhand became a  potent issue in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004. Interestingly, the Samajwadi Party, which supported the demand for demerger of the district from Uttarakhand, won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat. Its candidate Rajinder Baddi was elected Member of Parliament. The people of Haridwar district had apprehensions about their role in the hill dominated state, which gave vent to the demand for its demerger from Uttarakhand.

However, the fears and apprehensions of the people proved baseless as in Uttarakhand, they were provided better facilities of road, power supply, employment and governance. The villagers of the district realised that they were getting uninterrupted power supply while the villages in the neighbouring Saharanpur and Bijnore districts of Uttar Pradesh remained without power for days together. The better law and order situation compared to Uttar Pradesh and rapid industrialisation of Haridwar with the start of SIDCUL at Roshanabad here had a positive impact on the minds of the people. The change was seen when senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, who shifted from Almora to fight the Lok Sabha election from Haridwar in 2009, won the seat. Haridwar became a separate district in December 1988. It was earlier part of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. During the pre-Independence era, Haridwar as part of Saharanpur district came under United Province. It is now the most populated district of Uttarakhand.