Amidst the fears of the third wave of Covid-19 in the nation, the choice taken by the Yogi Adityanath government to permit the annual Kanwar Yatra has come below the scanner of the Apex court. The court taking suo motu cognisance of an Indian Express report asked the state government to file a response in the court. The approval for the Kanwar Yatra in Uttar Pradesh assumes significance as its neighbouring Uttarakhand has cancelled the Kanwar Yatra in the state for this year in view of the pandemic.
When is Kanwar Yatra scheduled in Uttar Pradesh?
The state government has permitted the Kanwar Yatra in the state from July 25 and finish the ritual by August 6 for this year. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes in the matter, the state government helmed by CM Yogi Adityanath for all sensible purposes has finalised the dates and also instructed leading police and administrative officials to make arrangements for the exact same, the Indian Express reported. The fears expressed by well being professionals about the emergence of the third wave are not unfounded as the devotees(Kanwariyas) who participated in the Kanwar Yatra in the state in 2019 amounted to a whopping 2-3 crore.
Religious Significance of Kanwar Yatra
The annual ritual falls in the month of Shravana in the Hindu calendar which typically falls in the month of July-August. Organised in the worship of Lord Shiva, devotees or Kanwariyas who partake in the Kanwar Yatra stroll barefoot and go to the nearest holy river to gather the hallowed water for the Shiva idol. Since the Ganga is thought of to be the holiest river in the nation, devotees throng at the nearest tributaries of the mighty river or on the bank of the Ganges itself to get a pitcher complete of holy water. Since the Ganga flows only by way of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, the Kanwar Yatra is celebrated more enthusiastically in the Hindi heartland states such as UP, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand amongst other individuals.
Holy spots on the trajectory of river such as Gangotri(from exactly where Ganga originates), Haridwar(Ganga lands on plains) and Prayagraj (confluence of Ganga and Yamuna) attract the biggest quantity of devotees in addition to other locations such as Varanasi, Sultanganj(Bihar), Ayodhya amongst other individuals. Devotees inhabiting distant components of the land for whom Ganges or any of its tributaries are out of attain, gather water from their neighborhood river or stream to mark the ritual. After collecting the pitcher complete of water, the devotees throng popular Shiva temples in their area and consecrate the Shiva linga(idol) with the holy water.
Origin of Kanwar Yatra
According to the legend, Lord Shiva was approached by various divine beings who had been a portion of the ‘samudra manthan’. The deities approached Lord Shiva with a quite toxic poison ‘halahala’ along with ‘amrita'(the holy drink) and requested the Lord to drink the former to save mortal beings living in the universe. When Lord Shiva started gulping the extremely lethal poison, his consort Lordess Parvati intervened and caught hold of Shiva’s throat in order to limit the harm of the poison in his body. As per the legend, the incident resulted in Lord Shiva becoming named ‘Neelkanth’ owing to his blue neck which came as a outcome of the deadly poison. Other dignitaries who witnessed the happenings began pouring on Lord Shiva to additional lessen the inflammation triggered by the poison. Since then supplying holy water to Lord Shiva’s deity is one of the main practices not only through the Kanwar Yatra but even otherwise as portion of each day rituals.
Strict regimen for Kanwariyas
While walking barefoot for miles is in itself an arduous job along with carrying the heavy water pitcher on the shoulder, Kanwariyas have to stick to a strict regimen through the period they are portion of the Kanwar Yatra. First and foremost, devotees have to assure that the pitcher should really not touch the ground and should really often be carried off the ground. While performing their each day ablutions, Kanwariyas are permitted to handover the holy pitcher with other Kanwar Yatra devotees or their companion. Devotees are also forbidden to take aid of any automobile or transport medium to cover the distance from the holy river to the temple.
However, as is the case with all religions the regimen is loosely abided by a big quantity of devotees. While a big Kanwariyas hitchhike on a motorcycle or a truck to cover the distance, a big quantity of them are tempted by inebriated substances and trigger hooliganism on the roads by playing loud music and disrupting visitors.
The Kanwar Yatra also poses a main challenge to the law and order establishments as the quantity of Kanwariyas swell and trigger enormous visitors with handful of Kanwariyas resorting to hooliganism. The possibility of communal tensions also increases as handful of anti-social components attempt to flare up the communal variations.