Haridwar

Haridwar, city, northwestern Uttarakhand state, northern India. Haridwar lies along the Ganges (Ganga) River, at the boundary between the Indo-Gangetic Plain (south) and the Himalayan foothills (north). It is the site of the headworks of the Ganges Canal system.

Haridwar is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus and is a major pilgrimage centre. It has been known by many names; originally it was called Kapila, for the sage who once lived there. Its present name means “Door to Hari”; Hari is one of the names of Vishnu, a principal deity of Hinduism.

Haridwar’s chief object of pilgrimage is Har-ki-pauri—the bathing ghat, or steps, along the river—which has what believers consider to be a footprint of Vishnu impressed into a stone. Large numbers of pilgrims gather there annually at the beginning of the Hindu solar year in April; the Kumbh Mela (a Hindu religious festival) is held every 12th year in Haridwar. The Daksha Mahadev temple, another important pilgrimage site, lies 2 miles (3 km) downstream at Kankhal. The Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee is the oldest civil engineering college in Asia. Pop. (2001) 175,340; (2011) 228,832.