 Haridwar, A Holy City in North India, is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is the site where the holy River Ganges flows down from the hills and enters the Gangetic plain. This historic town was mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang, in the records of his journeys through India.
Haridwar is the ideal place to begin a pilgrimage to the Himalayan pilgrimage sites, of Badrinath and Kedarnath. The Kumbha Mela, the world's largest religious gathering, takes place in this temple town.
The most important bathing ghat in Haridwar is Hari-ki-Pairi (literally the Footprint of God) for a footprint believed to be of Lord Vishnu's can be seen on a stone in a wall of the bathing ghat. There are five sacred bathing ghats in Haridwar - Gangadhara, Kankhal, Kusavarta, Nila Parvata and Bilwa Theertha. The Gangadwara temple is the most well known temple in Haridwar. The Ganga Aarti, where lamps are released to float on the surface of the holy Ganges, as offerings, every evening is truly a sight worth seeing.
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