The holy month of Hindus-Sawan (Shravan) is here and here and so is the annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva. Shiva- the protector and the destroyer is one of the supreme divine powers which control this universe. Throughout the month of Sawan, devotees worship Lord Shiva and fast on all the Mondays of the month in order to seek his blessings. During this auspicious occasion, lakhs of devotees also go on the Kanwar Pilgrimage to seek blessings and offer Lord Shiva. This year the holy month starts on July 5, 2020, and ends on July 19.
Kanwar Yatra 2020
As per mythology, during the churning of the ocean(Samudra Manthan), Lord Shiva consumed poison so as to save the world. However, Goddess Parvati quickly held his throat to stop the poison from moving further in his body and as a result, his throat turned blue and he came to be known as Neelkantha.
Due to the consumption of venom, Lord Shiva’s body started to burn and thus in order to provide him relief from the burning, all the Gods and Goddess started offering water to him. This is why the practice of offering water to Shiva and Kanwar Yatra began.
Kawad Sawan Shivaratri
Kanwar Yatra is widely popular in the northern part of India especially Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, and Jharkhand. Lakh of devotees come in huge groups and take part in dancing and singing Shiva bhajans throughout the route. Special rules and routes are also created by the traffic police so as to prevent any sort of congestion. Special security is beefed at the popular temples to avoid nuisance and untoward incident. Besides these, numerous resting and foods points are also created by the government and volunteers to serve the devotees throughout their route.
In this annual pilgrimage which takes place during the month of Sawan, the saffron-clad devotees walk barefoot to cover more than 100 km with Ganga water. In order to accomplish the Kanwar Yatra, the devotees need to follow certain rules such as:
No use of cosmetics throughout the journey
Yatra is always done in groups
Nights are always meant for rest
Consumption of alcohol, onion, and garlic is to be avoided.
One has to take bath before carrying Kanwar
Keeping Kanwar on your head or beneath a tree is prohibited.
