Haridwar, is one of the most religious town in Uttaranchal and it is this very holy town that hosts the famous ‘Maha Aarti’, every evening. The most pious ghats of Ganges in Uttaranchal is Harki Pauri, an important bathing ghat. This also the venue of the famous Kumbh Mela, that is held once in twelve years. During this festival an estimated 45 million people converge here to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges as part of a purification ritual.
This scared ghat was constructed in the 1st century BC and has webs of legends associated with it. The most important is the one that claims that a person who takes dips here, is freed of all his previous life and gets moksha (Nirvana). The doted temples, shops hawking religious blings and the various clay pots floating on the rivers completes the spiritual picture of Haridwar.