Haridwar Ardh Kumbh Mela 2016

As the name suggests Ardh Kumbh Mela means Half of Kumbh Mela but one of the largest fair in India. To bath in the holy river Ganga is the main purpose of this fair. According to Hinduism, ‘Ardh Kumbh Mela’ takes place when the planet Jupiter enters Aquarius and the Sun enters Aries. Ardh Kumbh Mela organized at following four places:

•             Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh)

•             Haridwar (Uttarakhand)

•             Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

•             Nasik (Maharastra)

The next Ardh Kumbh Mela is at Haridwar, holy city of Uttarakhand, India between January 2016 to April  2016.

Haridwar Ardh Kumbh Mela 2016 – Special Bathing (Snan) Dates:

Date                                      Day                        Event

14th January, 2016           Thursday             Makar Sankranti

12th February, 2016         Friday                  Basant Panchami

22nd February, 2016        Monday               Magh Purnima

7th March, 2016               Monday               Mahashivratri

7th April, 2016                 Thursday             Chaitra Amavasya

8th April, 2016                  Friday                 Chaitra Shukla Pratipada

14th April, 2016                Thursday             Mesha Sankranti

15th April, 2016                Friday                  Ram Navami      

22nd April, 2016               Friday                  Chaitra Shukla Purnima

Snan Ghats in Haridwar:

•             Har ki Pauri

•             Ashti Pravath Ghat

•             Subhas Ghat

•             Gau Ghat

•             Sapth Sarover Keshtra Ghat

•             Sarvanand Ghat

•             Pantdweep Ghat

•             Kangra Ghat

•             Roode Bale Wala Ghat

•             Ganesh Ghat

•             Varagi Camp Ghat

•             Sati Ghat

•             Daksheshwar Ghat

•             Singh Dwar Ghat

•                Sita Ghat

Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, Uttarakhand

In Indian culture, Rivers have always reserved a special place in Hindu Mythology as they are symbolized to carriers of life and fertility. Thus the rivers have great importance in all major festivals of India. One of the major festival takes place in this context that is ‘KUMBH MELA’. This fair is conceivably the largest religious gathering in any religion across the world. A large amount of people gathers at various places and perform distinguish rituals on this day by the banks of different rivers. The name Kumbh Mela consists two parts that are “Kumbh” which means a pitcher or a pot and another one is “Mela” which refers fair or gathering.

This is the fair which is organized at four different Indian Places on the banks of holy rivers. The places, where the Mela is conducted are Haridwar, on the bank of river Ganga, Ujjain by the river Shipra, Nasik by the river Godavari and last one Allahabad at the junction of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. During the ‘Kumbh Mela’, the banks of these rivers contain large area for bathing for the all types of people. For each place the ‘Kumbh Mela’ repeats every 12 years. Read more