Visit to Holy Place of Kankhal at Haridwar in India

Haridwar is the most important place of pilgrimage for Hindus in India. Thousands of pilgrims visit this holy place, which is situated in the Northern part of India in the Uttaranchal State on the bank of holy River Ganga. Haridwar is full of holy places. One such most vital place is Kankhal, which is situated at the distance of around 3 miles from Haridwar. The tourists visiting Haridwar always visit this holy place of Kankhal to see the ancient spots like Daksh Prajapati temple, Satikund, Bilkeshwar Mahadev temple, and the sangam of holy River Nildhara with Ganga.

Kankhal can easily be reached by hired car or taxi from the city of Haridwar. Haridwar is very well connected by all the three means of transportation like air, rail, and road from all the major cities of India. Kankhal is the place where the king Daksh, the father in law of Lord Shiva had performed holy yajna. Sati Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva, came to attend this yajna in spite of the fact that Lord Shiva was not invited on this occasion. Sati Parvati felt very bad as her husband Lord Shiva was not respected by the king Daksh. She felt so depressed and unhappy that she jumped in to the fire of the yajna and gave her life. Lord Shiva was very angry due to this. He came here and killed the king Daksh with his own hands and performed the famous tandav dance here at this spot. Later on, he was consoled by all the gods and lord Shiva finally agreed to stay here in the Kankhal as the Lord Daksheshwar in the temple. That is the reason this temple of Lord Shiva is given the utmost importance in the Hindu religion. The fireplace in which Sati Parvati has jumped in is known as Sataikund. The pilgrims from all over the world visit this holy place and put the holy ash of this fire place on their heads. Both Satikund and the Lord Shiva temple are situated on the bank of River Ganga. The famous sangam of the two Rivers Ganga and Nildhara take place here at Kankhal. There is also an ancient temple of Shravannath Mahadev at Kankhal. The famous temple of Lord Bilkeshwar Mahadev is also visited by all the pilgrims at Kankhal. The atmosphere at the Rivers ghat is really spiritual and generates divine spiritual energy in all the people visiting this place.

There are many ashrams of mahatmas at Kankhal. Harihar ashram of shri Avdheshanand Maharaj is really worth visiting at Kankhal. Recently, the ashram of famous yogguru Ramdevji Maharaj has also gained lot of importance in view of the famous patanjali yoga university here. The regular pranayama camps are held here by Shri Ramdevji Maharaj, which are attended by thousands of people from all over the country and abroad. There is also a free ayurvedic clinic at this ashram that treats all the people free of charge. I have myself attended couple of pranayama residential camps at this ashram. The location of this ashram is fantastic, just on the bank of holy river Ganga. The tourists visit Kankhal as one day outing from Haridwar. They start at around 9 am in the morning and can be back to Haridwar by about 4 pm in the afternoon. There are many small restaurants that serve standard north Indian food delicacies in Kankhal. However, all such items would be highly spicy. Hence, it is suggested to clearly specify your taste at the time of ordering only. It is also suggested to carry your own supply of mineral drinking water with you as the drinking water supplied here is hard and contaminated with salts. It would also be better to visit Haridwar during the winter months from November to March as the summer months are quiet severe here.

I would strongly recommend all my friends and readers to visit this holy place of Kankhal and enjoy the calm and quiet beauty of the holy River Ganga and the Himalaya Mountains.