Kanwariya/ Kanwar Yatra

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Kanwariyas travelling to Deoghar Photo: Tehelka

The pilgrimage

Kanwariya yatra / The Times of India

Hindu devotees take part in the Kanwar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva. They visit Hindu pilgrimage places of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand to fetch holy waters of Ganges River which is later offered at their local Shiva temples.

The Yatra takes place during the sacred month of Shravan (Saawan) (July-August), according to the Hindu calendar. Shravan is considered the holiest month in the Hindu calendar with many religious festivals and ceremonies.

Kanwariyas are young men performing a ritual pilgrimage, in which they walk, sometimes hundreds of miles, to the Ganges River to take its sacred waters back to Hindu temples in their hometowns. During the Hindu lunar month of Shravana, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims can be seen walking the roads of India, clad in saffron, and carrying ornately decorated canisters of water over their shoulders.

Kanwariyas walk on (or drive through in trucks) the roads of India, clad in saffron, and carrying ornately decorated canisters of sacred water from the Ganges River over their shoulders to take them back to Hindu temples in their hometowns.

Kanwariyas are Hindus and worshippers of Hindu God Shiva. Some carry metal canisters filled with holy water from the Ganges River in Allahabad, which they then take home.

Many Kanwariyas pilgrims travel through lucknow

Kanwariya pilgrims collect Ganges water from the river in Hardwar. They carry and store this holy water in kanwar containers and then offer water to the Shivlinga at the ancient temple.

Some Devotees participate in 51 feet Kanwar Shova [shobha?] yatra in Patna city.The shova yatra travels to Deodhar in Jharkhand to pray at the Baidyanath temple.