Sacred site, India
Haridwar
Where the Ganges leaves the Himalaya: mundan at Har Ki Pauri and the matted locks of sadhus at the Kumbh.
Haridwar stands where the Ganges leaves the mountains for the plains, and its main ghat, Har Ki Pauri, is thought to hold a footprint of Vishnu. Families bring children here for the mundan in the river, and the city hosts the Kumbh Mela every twelve years, when ascetics with long matted locks, called jata, come down from the hills and monasteries to bathe.
First haircuts at Har Ki Pauri
Mundan ceremonies fill the steps of Har Ki Pauri and the smaller ghats nearby, especially in the spring and on auspicious days. Barbers shave the child's head and the hair is offered to the river, often with a small lamp floated on a leaf at the evening aarti. Many families from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh come here rather than to Varanasi because it is closer, and some keep family records with the priests of the town.
Jata and the Kumbh
At the Kumbh Mela, held in Haridwar in 2010 and 2021, the processions of the akharas, orders of ascetics, are led by naga sadhus, some of whom wear jata, hair left uncut and matted for years, coiled on the head or hanging to the ground. Jata follows the image of Shiva, whose matted locks are said to have caught the Ganges as it fell from heaven. Other ascetics shave their heads when they take vows.
