DWAR

The place we visited along the Ganges river is called Hari Dwar. It is close to Rishikesh, made famous by the Beetles when they came to meet with a guru here. The word “hari” means god and the word “dwar” means gate or door. So the place that we went to see the Ganges river is referred to as the door to god or the gateway to the gods. The gods are believed to reside in the mountains which are about a two hour drive to the Northeast. There are many myths and stories surrounding the gateway to the gods. It is the reason why this place will see millions of people during the pilgrimage season. One of the more well known stories behind Hari Dwar goes like this:

There was a battle between the gods and the demons over a substance call "Amrit". "Mrit" in Sanskrit means "life", and Amrit, is anti life. The "a" has the same effect in Sanskrit as it does in Greek, they are from the same base language that scholars called Proto-Indo-European (P.I.E.). It is a theoretical base pre-historic language for where scholars believe Greek, Sanskrit even Latin came from. I digress...

So the demons and the gods were fighting over a substance called Amrit. Amrit is a powerful milky substance which holds the power of life and death. (Note the motherly, life giving connotation). Whoever controlled this milky substance would control all of life. Fiercely, both sides fought for control of the Amrit. At some point the gods gave the demons what they were led to believe was Amrit, but was actually a divine form of liquor and the gods took control of the Amrit. As the gods escaped a brief scuffle ensued and the container of Amrit tipped and was about to fall to the earth where it would not be able to be recovered. Instinctively, without thinking, Shiva jumped underneath the spilling Amrit and caught it in his mouth to prevent it from being lost to earth. As a result Shiva began to choke. He could not swallow it because if he ingested the Amrit its power would overwhelm him and he would die. (Yes, I know it is ironic, but apparently the essence of life is pretty potent stuff).

To the right is a painting portraying Shiva in his pursuit of his wife Parvati. Note, this painting would have have taken place before the this fight with the demons so he is not a blueish color.

In order to save Shiva’s life, his wife, the goddess Parvati, choked him to prevent him from swallowing the Amrit. This is why in most of the pictures or paintings you see of Shiva he is a bluish color. As the gods, including Shiva, were escaping with the Mithra, Shiva was coughing up some of the Amrit, and seven drops (or ten depending on which version of the story you are hearing) fell from his mouth to the earth. These drops landed along the Ganges river and became the holy sites were people go to bath and perform their ritual washing. Going to the places where the essence of life fell from Shiva’s mouth makes the spiritual cleansing people are seeking a deeper and more thorough cleansing and that their new life will be a step up in the reincarnation process.

Hari Dwar is the first of these holy places along the Ganges river. It is were the Ganges, which flows out of the Himalayan foothills, hits the plains and goes from a narrow rushing stream to a wide, slow moving river. So the place where the river opens up; the place where a drop of Amrit, the essence of life, fell from Shiva’s mouth to earth, the last place you can stop on the Ganges before entering the region dominated by the worship of Shiva, is called Hari Dwar, the gateway of god, or door of the gods.

Hari Dwar is also one of four sites in particular where Hindu's visit once every twelve years for the festival of Kumbh Mela. It is a celestial festival based on the alignment of Jupiter with other constellations.