RISHIKESH
Haridwar's aarti is larger and more crowded than either of Rishikesh's — worth doing once for comparison, but go on a weekday; weekend crowds during Kanwar season (Jul–Aug, overlapping monsoon) turn the ghat into a crush that isn't pleasant with kids or anyone uncomfortable in tight crowds.
According to tradition, the 1st-century-BC King Vikramaditya built this ghat in memory of his brother Bharthari, a devotee of Shiva who meditated at the site, and it has been Haridwar's central pilgrimage ghat ever since, marking the point where the Ganges leaves the Himalayan foothills and enters the plains. Its most sacred section, Brahmakund, is believed to be where a drop of the celestial nectar (Amrit) fell from the pitcher carried by the divine bird Garuda during the mythological churning of the ocean, an episode also tied to the origins of the Kumbh Mela held periodically at Haridwar. The nightly Ganga Aarti performed here draws some of the largest crowds of any river ceremony in India.
