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 Tirupati ˈtɪrʊpɒtɪ  is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the administrative headquarters of Tirupati district. It is known for its significant religious and cultural heritage, being home to the renowned Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, a major Hindu pilgrimage site, as well as other historic temples. The temple is one of the eight Svayam Vyakta Kshetras self-manifested temples dedicated to the deity Vishnu. Tirupati is situated 150 km from Chennai, 250 km from Bangalore, and 416 km from Vijayawada.

Tirupati is the second largest city in the Rayalaseema region, after Kurnool. According to the 2011 census of India, Tirupati had a population of 287,035, making it the ninth most populous city in Andhra Pradesh, while the larger urban agglomeration had a population of 459,985, ranking it the seventh largest in the state. The city functions as a municipal corporation and serves as the headquarters for the Tirupati district, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati Urban, Tirupati Rural mandals, the Tirupati revenue division, the Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited APSPDCL, and the Tirupati Urban Development Authority TUDA.

In 2012–2013, Tirupati was recognized by India's Ministry of Tourism as the Best Heritage City. Additionally, it was selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed under the Smart Cities Mission, a Government of India initiative aimed at urban development and modernization.

Etymology

In Dravidian, Tiru means sacred or Honourable and Pati, a Dravidian word meaning residence. The prefix Tiru  Thiru is a widely recognised Tamil word and is used in many South Indian place names. Tirupati Tirumala is referred to as Pushpa-mandapa in Acharya-Hrdayam 13th century.

History

Puranas

According to Varaha Purana, during Treta Yuga, Rama resided here with Sita and Lakshmana on his return from Lankapuri.

As per the Purana, a loan of one crore and 11.4 million gold coins was sought by Balaji from Kubera for his marriage with Padmavathi. To pay back the loan, devotees from all over India visit the temple and donate money.

Ancient history

Tirupati was developed by Pallava Kings from 6th century onwards. The city became a great Vaishnava centre during the time of Ramanujacharya in 11th century, from where Srivaishnavism spread to other parts of Andhra Desa. Srikurmam Temple in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh bears the inscription, Tirupati Srivaishnavula Raksha. Tirupati survived the Muslim invasions by accepting to pay Jizya to the Muslims. During the early 1300s Muslim invasion of South India, the idol of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam was brought to Tirupati for safekeeping.

The temple town for most of the medieval era was part of Vijayanagara Empire until the 17th century and its rulers contributed considerable resources and wealth, notable among whom are Krishna Deva Raya and Achyuta Deva Raya, Sadasiva Raya and Tirumala Deva Raya.

The city has many historical temples including the Venkateswara Temple which bears 1,150 inscriptions in the Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. Out of 1150 inscriptions 236 belong to Pallava, Chola and Pandya dynasties, 169 belonged to Saluva dynasty, 251 belonged to Achyuta Deva Raya period, 130 belonged to Sadasiva Raya period and another 135 originated in Aravidu dynasty. These mostly specify the contributions of the Pallava Kingdom around the ninth century CE, Chola Kingdom around the tenth century CE and the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century CE. In the 15th century, Tallapaka Annamacharya sung many songs in praise of the holy town in Telugu. He termed it as divine, including the rocks, streams, trees, animals, and adds that it is heaven on earth. One example of such a song is 

 Tirumala is a Hindu religious temple town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the neighbourhoods of the Tirupati city. The town is a part of Tirupati Urban Development Authority and located in Tirupati urban mandal of Tirupati revenue division. The town is strictly vegetarian. It is a hill town where Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is located, a popular shrine of Vishnu. Vishnu is believed to reside here with his full power, as in Vaikuntha, and thus the place is also called Bhuloka Vaikuntha.

Etymology

The word Tirumala is of Tamil origin. The term Tiru means sacred or holy, and Mala means mountain or hill. The prefix Tiru or Thiru is a widely recognised Tamil word and is used in many South Indian place names.

Geography

Spotted deer in the park

Tirumala is located 980 metres 3,200 ft above sea level and covers an area of approximately 26.8 square kilometres 10.33 sq mi. Surrounding the hills are seven peaks of the Seshachalam range of Eastern Ghats namely Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri, and Venkatadri. The temple of Venkateswara is on the seventh peak Venkatadri.

At the 12 km 7.5 mi point on the Tirupati – Tirumala Ghat road, there is a major discontinuity of stratigraphic significance that represents a period of remarkable serenity in the geological history of the Earth. This is referred to as the Eparchaean Unconformity. This unconformity separates the Nagari Quartzite of the Proterozoic from the granite of the Archean, representing a time gap of 800 Mya. In 2001, the Geological Survey of India GSI declared the Eparchaean Unconformity to be one of the 26 "Geological Monuments of India".

Silathoranam natural arch at Tirumala Hills, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

Silathoranam, a natural arch and a distinctive geological wonder, is located in Tirumala Hills at a distance of 1 km 0.62 mi from the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. The arch measures 8 m 26 ft in width and 3 m 9.8 ft metres in height and is eroded out of quartizite of Cuddapah Supergroup of Middle to Upper Proterozoic 1600 to 570 Mya by weathering agents such as water and wind.

Climate

Deer park near Alipiri Mettu

Tirumala has a humid subtropical climate designated Cwa, with dry winters under the Köppen climate classification. As the hill shrine is situated amidst the hills, the temperature will go below 10 degrees Centigrade in winter. Summers are not as hot here, especially compared to Tirupati. The southwest monsoon season starts from June, but rains are not heavy. Occasionally, thunderstorms form and downpours may persist for hours. Pertaining to orographic relief, the northeast monsoon remains active over the region for 2 months. It causes flooding. The highest 24-hour rainfall on record was 459 mm 18.1 in on 23 November 2005, followed by 307 mm 12.1 in on 9 November 2015. 

 Amarnath Temple is a Hindu shrine located in the Pahalgam tehsil of Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is a cave situated at an altitude of 3,888 m 12,756 ft, about 168 km from Anantnag city, the district headquarters, 141 km 88 mi from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, reached through either Sonamarg or Pahalgam. It is an important shrine in Hinduism.

The cave, located in Sind Valley, is surrounded by glaciers, snowy mountains and is covered with snow most of the year, except for a short period in the summer, when it is open to pilgrims. In 1989, pilgrims numbered between 12,000 and 30,000. In 2011, the numbers reached a peak, crossing 6.3 lakh 630,000 pilgrims. In 2018 pilgrims numbered 2.85 lakh 285,000. The annual pilgrimage varies between 20 and 60 days

The Amarnath cave, abode of the Mahamaya Shakti Pitha, is one of the 51 Shakti Pithas, the temples of the Indian subcontinent that commemorate the location of the fallen body parts of the Hindu deity Sati.

Shiva Linga

Further information: Lingam

Ice lingam of Lord Shiva at the Amarnath Cave Temple

The Shiva Lingam at the shrine is a Swayambhu lingam. The lingam is a natural stalagmite formation inside a 40 m 130 ft tall cave at an elevation of 3,888 m 12,756 ft on the Amarnath Mountain, which has a peak of 5,186 metres 17,014 ft. The stalagmite is formed due to the freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the cave onto the floor, resulting in an upward growth of an ice formation. Here, the stalagmites considered as the lingam, a physical manifestation of Shiva, form a solid-dome-shape. Two smaller stalagmites are thought to represent Parvati and Ganesha.

According to the ancient Hindu texts of the Mahabharata and Puranas a lingam represents Shiva. The lingam waxes during May to August, as snow melts in the Himalayas above the cave, and water seeps into the rocks of the cave; thereafter, the lingam gradually wanes. Religious beliefs hold that the lingam grows and shrinks with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. Hindus believe this is the place where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort, Parvati.

Lidder Valley, where the cave is located, has a number of glaciers. In 2009, glaciologist M. N. Koul, the former head of the geography department at the University of Jammu, has said that while more scientific studies are needed, contributors to change in lingam size could include changes in the water's pathways to the lingam. The cave is made of limestone and gypsum. Heat generated by tourists affects the size of the stalagmite. Outside temperature changes also affect their size. To minimize artificially induced temperature changes, helicopter trips and helipad sites are regulated. There has been talk of artificially extending the life of the stalagmites; this was met with objections.

History

Ancient history

The book Rajatarangini Book VII v. 183 refers to Krishaanth or Amarnath. It is believed that in the 11th century CE, Queen Suryamati gifted trishulas, banalingas and other sacred emblems to this temple.[14] Rajavalipataka, begun by Prajna Bhatta, contains detailed references to the pilgrimage to Amarnath Cave Temple. In addition, there are further references to this pilgrimage in many other ancient texts.

Medieval history

Mughal painting depicting Amarnath, c. 1600

The cave and the Shivling find mention in Abu'l Fazl's 16th century work Ain-i-Akbari. According to him, the site attracted many pilgrims. He describes the waxing and waning of the lingam according to the seasons and the moon. François Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book Travels in Mughal Empire, he provides an account of the places he visited, noting that he was pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed when he received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence. The grotto referenced in this passage is the Amarnath cave — as the editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincent A. Smith, makes clear in his introduction. He writes: The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindus who resort here as images of Shiva.... 

 The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, both in Punjab, Pakistan.

The sarovar holy pool on the site of the gurdwara was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577. In 1604, Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, placed a copy of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple and was a prominent figure in its development. The gurdwara was repeatedly rebuilt by the Sikhs after it became a target of persecution and was destroyed several times by the Mughal and invading Afghan armies. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after founding the Sikh Empire, rebuilt it in marble and copper in 1809, and overlaid the sanctum with gold leaf in 1830. This has led to the name the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple is spiritually the most significant shrine in Sikhism. It became a centre of the Singh Sabha Movement between 1883 and the 1920s, and the Punjabi Suba movement between 1947 and 1966. In the early 1980s, the gurdwara became a centre of conflict between the Indian government and a radical movement led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. In 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent in the Indian Army as part of Operation Blue Star, leading to the deaths of thousands of soldiers, militants and civilians, as well as causing significant damage to the gurdwara and the destruction of the nearby Akal Takht. The gurdwara complex was rebuilt again after the 1984 attack on it.

The Golden Temple is an open house of worship for all people, from all walks of life and faiths. It has a square plan with four entrances, and a circumambulation path around the pool. The four entrances of the gurudwara symbolise the Sikh belief in equality and the Sikh view that people from all groups, castes and ethnicities are welcome at their holy place. The complex is a collection of buildings around the sanctum and the pool. One of these is Akal Takht, the chief centre of religious authority of Sikhism. Additional buildings include a clock tower, the offices of the Gurdwara Committee, a Museum and a langar – a free Sikh community-run kitchen that offers a vegetarian meal to all visitors without discrimination. Over 150,000 people visit the shrine every day for worship. The gurdwara complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its application is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO.

Nomenclature

The Harmandir Sahib is also spelled as Harimandar or Harimandir Sahib. It is also called the Durbār Sahib, which means sacred audience, as well as the Golden Temple for its gold leaf-covered sanctum centre. The word Harmandir is composed of two words: Hari, which scholars translate as God , and mandir, which means house. Sahib is further appended to the shrine's name, the term often used within Sikh tradition to denote respect for places of religious significance. The Sikh tradition has several gurdwaras named Harmandir Sahib, such as those in Kiratpur and Patna. Of these, the one in Amritsar is most revered.

History

Guru Arjan overseeing the construction of the original Golden Temple Harmandir Sahib, painting from c. 1890–95

According to the Sikh historical records, the land that became Amritsar and houses the Harimandir Sahib was chosen by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of the Sikh tradition. It was then called Guru Da Chakk, after he had asked his disciple Ram Das to find land to start a new town with a man-made pool as its central point. After Guru Ram Das succeeded Guru Amar Das in 1574, and in the face of hostile opposition from the sons of Amar Das, Ram Das founded the town that came to be known as Ramdaspur. He started by completing the pool with the help of Baba Buddha not to be confused with the Buddha of Buddhism. Ram Das built his new official centre and home next to it. He invited merchants and artisans from other parts of India to settle in the new town with him.

A Sikh Guru perhaps Guru Arjan seated in the Golden Temple at Amritsar in the late 16th or early 17th century, c. 1830 Guler painting

Ramdaspur town expanded during the time of Guru Arjan financed by donations and constructed by voluntary work. The town grew to become the city of Amritsar, and the area grew into the temple complex. The construction activity between 1574 and 1604 is described in Mahima Prakash Vartak, a semi-historical Sikh hagiography text likely composed in 1741, and the earliest known document dealing with the lives of all the ten Gurus. Guru Arjan installed the scripture of Sikhism inside the new gurdwara in 1604. Continuing the efforts of Ram Das, Guru Arjan established Amritsar as a primary Sikh pilgrimage destination. He wrote a voluminous amount of Sikh scripture including the popular Sukhmani Sahib.

 Yamunotri Temple is a Hindu temple, situated in the western region of Garhwal Himalayas at an altitude of 3,291 metres 10,797 ft in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, India. It's just 129 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarters. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Yamuna, and has a black marble idol of the goddes The Yamunotri temple is a full day's journey from Uttarakhand's main towns — Uttarkashi, Rishikesh, Haridwar or Dehradun.

The actual temple is only accessible by a 13 kilometres 8.1 mi trek from the town of Hanuman Chatti and a 6 kilometres 3.7 mi walk from Janki Chatti; horses or palanquins are available for rent. The hike from Hanuman Chatti to Yamunotri takes in views of a number of waterfalls. There are two trekking routes from Hanuman Chatti to Yamunotri; the one along the right bank proceeds via the Markandeya Tirth, where the sage Markandeya wrote the Markandeya Purana. The other route–which lies on the left bank of the river–goes via Kharsali, from where Yamunotri is a five or six hours climb.

History

Yamunotri temple has a shrine dedicated to the goddess Yamuna  The temple has been destroyed twice by snow and floods before being rebuilt. It is located on the backdrop of Bandarpunch. The temple is part of the revered Char Dham pilgrimage circuit.

Temple and vicinity

The temple opens on Akshaya Tritiya May and closes on Yama Dwitiya the second day after Diwali, November for the winter. A little ahead is the actual source of the river Yamuna, which is at an altitude of about 4,421 metres 14,505 ft approximately. Two hot springs are also present at Yamunotri, offering relief to tired hikers at a height of 3,292 metres 10,801 ft. Surya Kund has boiling hot water, while Gauri Kund has tepid water suitable for bathing  The spring water is said to be hot enough to cook rice and potatoes. Lodging at the temple itself is limited to a few small ashrams and guest-houses. Ritual duties, such as the making and distribution of prasad sanctified offerings and the supervision of pujas ritual venerations, are performed by the Uniyal family of pujaris priests. Unique aspects of ritual practice at the site include hot springs, where raw rice is cooked and made into prasad.

 Gangotri is a town and a Nagar Panchayat municipality in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirathi – the origin of the river Ganges. The town is located on the Greater Himalayan Range, at a height of 3,100 metres 10,200 ft. According to a popular Hindu legend, the goddess Ganga descended here when Shiva released the mighty river from the locks of his hair.

Bhagirathi River and Himalayas in Gangotri, Uttarakhand

Significance

Ganga River

Gangotri is one of the four sites in the Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. It is also the origin of the Ganges River and, per Hinduism, the seat of the goddess Ganga. The source of the Ganges River is the Bhagirathi River, originating from the Gangotri Glacier. Once the river confluences with the Alakananda River at a town called Devprayag it finally acquires the name Ganga.

Near the river is a stone where King Bhagiratha performed penance to Shiva in order to bring the Ganga down to earth and absolve the sins of his ancestors. According to another legend, Pandavas performed the great 'Deva Yajna' here to atone the deaths of their kinsmen in the epic battle of the Mahabharata. Hindus believe that performing the ancestral rites on the banks of Bhagirathi frees the spirit of the ancestor from the cycle of rebirth and a holy dip in its waters cleanses sins committed in the present also past births.

Gangotri Temple

The original Gangotri Temple was built by the Nepalese general Amar Singh Thapa and later restored in the 19th century. The temple is closed from Diwali day every year and is reopened on Akshaya Tritiya. During this time, the idol of the goddess is kept at Mukhba village, near Harsil. Ritual duties of the temple are supervised by the Semwal family of pujaris. These pujaris hail from Mukhba village.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of India, there are total 47 families residing in Gangotri. The total population of Gangotri is 110 out of which 97 are males and 13 are females. The literacy rate of Gangotri is 99.. The entire population of Gangotri identifies as Hindu. 

 Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is a Hindu holy place, and is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage. It is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit and gets its name from the Badrinath Temple.

Etymology

Badrinath derives from the Sanskrit compound Badarīnātha, consisting of the terms badarī jujube tree and nātha lord, an epithet of Vishnu. It is also known as Badarikashrama.

History

In earlier days, pilgrims used to walk hundreds of miles to visit the Badrinath temple. The temple has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and avalanches. As late as the First World War, the town consisted only of the 20-odd huts used by the temple's staff, but the site drew thousands each year and up to 50,000 on its duodecennial festivals every twelve years. In recent years its popularity has increased still more, with an estimated 600,000 pilgrims visiting during the 2006 season, compared to 90,676 in 1961. The temple in Badrinath is also a sacred pilgrimage site for Vaishnavites. Badrinath is also gateway to several mountaineering expeditions headed to mountains like Nilkantha.

Temple

Main article: Badrinath Temple

The Badrinath temple is the main attraction in the town. According to the legend, Adi Shankaracharya discovered a black stone image of Lord Badrinarayan made of Shaligram stone in the Alaknanda River. He originally enshrined it in a cave near the Tapt Kund hot springs. In the sixteenth century, the King of Garhwal moved the murti to the present temple. The temple is approximately 50 ft 15 m tall with a small cupola on top, covered with a gold gilt roof. The facade is built of stone, with arched windows. A broad stairway leads up to a tall arched gateway, which is the main entrance. The architecture resembles a Buddhist vihara temple, with the brightly painted facade also more typical of Buddhist temples. Just inside is the mandapa, a large pillared hall that leads to the garbha grha, or main shrine area. The walls and pillars of the mandapa are covered with intricate carving.

 Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86.5 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarters. Kedarnath is the most remote of the four Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. It is located in the Himalayas, about 3,583 m 11,755 ft above sea level near the Chorabari Glacier, which is the source of the Mandakini River. The town is flanked by snow-capped peaks, most prominently the Kedarnath Mountain. The nearest road head is at Gaurikund about 16 km away. The town suffered extensive destruction during June 2013 from the flash floods caused by torrential rains in Uttarakhand.

Etymology

The name Kedarnath means the Lord of the Field. It is derived from the Sanskrit words kedara field and natha lord. The text Kashi Kedara Mahatmya states that it is so-called because "the crop of liberation" grows here.

History

Kedarnath is a pilgrimage site or tirtha dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. It is one of the four pilgrimage spots that form a part of the Uttarkhand Char Dham yatra or Chota Char Dham yatra. The temple's construction is credited to the Pandava brothers mentioned in the Mahabharata. However, the Mahabharata does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana . 7th-8th century, which names Kedara Kedarnath as the place where Shiva released the holy waters of Ganga from his matted hair, resulting in the formation of the Ganges River.

The Acharyas rebuilt the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand under the guidance of Adi Shankaracharya. According to the hagiographies based on Madhava's Sankshepa-Shankara-Vijaya, the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya died near the Kedarnath mountains; although other hagiographies, based on Anandagiri's Prachina-Shankara-Vijaya, state that he died at Kanchipuram. The ruins of a monument marking the purported resting place of Adi Shankaracharya are located at Kedarnath. Kedarnath was a prominent pilgrimage centre by the 12th century when it is mentioned in Kritya-kalpataru written by the Gahadavala minister Bhatta Lakshmidhara.

 The Ram Mandir ISO: Rāma Maṁdira, lit. Rama Temple, is a Hindu temple complex in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India. Many Hindus believe that it is located at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, the mythical birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism.

The temple was inaugurated on 22 January 2024 in an elaborate ceremony led by Indian Prime Minister Modi, in which the Hindu priests performed religious rituals consecrating the deity. On the first day of its opening, the temple received a rush of over half a million visitors. The temple has a high number of daily visitors reportedly between 100,000 and 150,000. Ram Mandir become Uttar Pradesh state's top religious tourism destination drawing over 135.5 million visitors in 2024. The temple construction was completed on 25 November 2025 with an event marked by hoisting of the Dharma Dhwaja .

The site of the temple has been the subject of communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India, as it is the former location of the Babri Masjid, which was built between 1528 and 1529. Idols of Rama and Sita were placed in the mosque in 1949, before it was attacked and demolished in 1992. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India delivered the verdict to give the disputed land to Hindus for construction of a temple, while Muslims were given land nearby in Dhannipur in Ayodhya to construct a mosque. The court referenced a report from the Archaeological Survey of India ASI as evidence suggesting the presence of a structure beneath the demolished Babri Masjid, that was found to be non-Islamic.

On 5 August 2020, the bhūmi pūjana transl. ground breaking ceremony for the commencement of the construction of Ram Mandir was performed by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. The temple complex, currently under construction, is being supervised by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. On 22 January 2024, Modi served as the Mukhya Yajamāna transl. chief patron of rituals for the event and performed the prāṇa pratiṣṭhā transl. consecration of the temple. The prana pratishtha ceremony was organised by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.The temple has also attracted a number of controversies due to alleged misuse of donation, sidelining of its major activists, and politicisation of the temple by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

 Kanyakumari . The virgin Girl, referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin is a town and municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southernmost tip of the contiguous Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland India, and thus it is informally referred to as The Land's End. Kanyakumari town is about 90 kilometres 56 mi from Thiruvananthapuram and 20 kilometres 12 mi south of Nagercoil, the headquarters of Kanyakumari district.

Kanyakumari is a popular tourist destination and pilgrimage centre in India. Notable tourist spots include its unique sunrise and sunset points, the 41-metre 133 ft Thiruvalluvar Statue, and Vivekananda Rock Memorial off the coast. Lying at the tip of peninsular India, the town is bordered on the west, south, and east by the Laccadive Sea. It has a coastline of 71.5 kilometres 44.4 mi stretched along these three sides.

On the shores of the city is a temple dedicated to the goddess Kanya Kumari the unmarried goddess, after which the town is named. Kanyakumari has been a town since the Sangam period and was referred to in old Malayalam literature and in the accounts of Ptolemy and Marco Polo.

History

Main article: Kanya Kumari Temple

Etymology

The place derives its name from the goddess Kanya Kumari, considered to be the sister of Krishna. The goddess is believed to remove the rigidity from the mind, and women pray for marriage at her temple. In 1656, the Dutch East India Company conquered Portuguese Ceylon from the Portuguese East Indies, and the name eventually corrupted to "Comorin" and was called "Cape Comorin" during British rule in India. In 2016, the town and its district were renamed to "Kanniyakumari" by the Government of India and the Government of Madras.

Legend

According to a Hindu legend, Kanya Devi, an avatar of Parvati, was to marry Shiva, who failed to show up on his wedding day. Rice and other grains meant for the wedding feast remained uncooked and unused. The uncooked grains turned into stones as time went by. Some believe that the small stones on the shore today, which look like rice, are indeed grains from the wedding that was never solemnised. Kanya Devi is now considered a virgin goddess who blesses pilgrims and tourists who flock to the town. Her temple in Kanyakumari is a Shakta pitha: a holy shrine in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism.

According to another Hindu legend, Hanuman dropped a piece of earth near Kanyakumari as he was carrying a mountain with his life-saving herb, Mrita Sanjivani, from the Himalayas to Lanka Sri Lanka during the Ramayana War. The fallen earth formed an area called Marunthuvazh Malai, literally hills where medicine lives. This legend explains the abundance of unique native medicinal plants in the area. Marunthuvazh Malai is located near Kottaram, about 7 km 4 mi from Kanyakumari town on the Kanyakumari–Nagercoil highway. The sage Agasthya, who was an expert in medicinal herbs, is believed to have lived around this site in ancient days. There is an ashram on the middle of the hillside; tourists trek up to visit the ashram and to glimpse the sea near Kanyakumari town, a few kilometres away. 

 The incarnation of Vaishno Devi took place during the Treta Yuga, when the demon Ravana and his brothers and other demonic forces were committing atrocities on the earth. The Tridevis or the three great goddesses, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, and Mahasaraswati decided to combine their respective energies tamas, sattva and rajas to give birth to a single divine powerful energy for the preservation of Dharma. From this unified brilliance, a beautiful divine goddess emerged. This goddess was given the name Vaishno Devi. She was commanded to take birth as a daughter in the home of a man named Ratnakar Sagar in Southern India. Ratnakar Sagar gave her the name Trikuta. Her mission was specifically defined as upholding dharma on Earth and assisting in the rescue of Sita, the abducted wife of Lord Rama, an avatar of Vishnu Even from a young age, Trikuta demonstrated her divine magical powers, attracting sages, seers, and the deities themselves. Trikuta became popular among the three worlds Earth, Sky and Heaven. With her father's permission, she moved to a secluded area on the seashore, meditating solely on Lord Rama and performing a severe penance tapasya. When Lord Rama reached the seashore with his army of monkeys during his hunt of Ravana, who had abducted Sita, he saw the young girl absorbed in deep meditation. When Rama questioned her about the purpose of her penance, Trikuta introduced herself as the daughter of Ratnakar Sagar and stated her firm resolve to obtain Rama as her husband. Rama, who had taken a vow of monogamy acknowledging none other than Sita as his wife in that avatar, set a condition. He promised that after killing Ravana and rescuing Sita, he would return to her hut in a disguise, and if she recognized him, he would accept her. When Rama returned, disguised as an old sadhu after conquering Lanka, Trikuta failed to recognize him. Upon realizing his true identity, Trikuta was distraught, but Rama offered her solace and assurance. He instructed her to travel to a beautiful cave on the Trikuta mountain in North India, where the three mountains represent the three goddesses, and immerse herself in meditation. Rama promised that in the upcoming Kali Yuga, when he takes his Kalki Avatar, she would become his companion. She would become immortal there, and the brave monkey warriors Nala, Neela, Hanuman and Jambavan would stand as her protectors. Her fame and glory would eventually spread throughout the World, and she would be famously known as Vaishno Devi. Around 700 years ago, a devotee Shridhar lived in the village of Hansali, approximately 2 km from Katra. Shridhar was a devout worshipper of the goddess Vaishno Devi and customarily performed kanya puja worship of young girls as manifestations of the goddess. Grieved by his childlessness, he intensified his devotion to the goddess. He made a strict vow that he would fast until the goddess herself came to his home and fed him. Touched by his unshakeable faith, Vaishno Devi appeared before him in the form of a young girl. The girl instructed Shridhar to organize a bhandara feeding a group of people for free, the following day and invite people from his village and nearby areas. While distributing invitations, Shridhar encountered the ascetic Guru Gorakhnath and his disciples, including Bhaironnath. Gorakhnath, upon hearing of the grand feast organized by a poor Brahmin on the advice of a young girl, remarked scornfully that Shridhar must be mistaken in inviting him and his 360 disciples. Nevertheless, Gorakhnath and Bhaironnath agreed to attend, deciding to test the veracity of the girl's power. When the day arrived, a huge crowd gathered, and the divine girl arranged for everyone, including Gorakhnath and his 62 followers, to be seated comfortably in the small hut. Using the akshaya patra a magic vessel that never goes empty , the girl began serving food that fulfilled every guest's specific desire. Bhaironnath then realized that the girl had magic powers. When the girl approached him, Bhaironnath, intending to test her and driven by his impure desires, demanded meat and wine. The girl, however, stated firmly that this was a Brahmin's feast, and only vegetarian food would be served. Bhaironnath, attempting to seize the girl in his anger, found that the girl instantly vanished. Bhaironnath immediately began chasing her up the Trikuta mountain. Darshani Darwaza is where the girl vanished from the hut and proceeded toward the Trikuta mountain. It is considered the first gateway to the Trikuta mountain and is located approximately 1 km from Katra. The goddess called Hanuman and he appeared in front of her as her guardian. As the goddess continued her path, Hanuman, grew thirsty. To quench his thirst, the goddess struck the rocks with an arrow, causing a pure water stream to spring forth. This stream is now named as Ban Ganga Ganga of the arrow. She also washed her hair in this water, contributing to the name Bal Ganga Ganga of the washed hair. This sacred place is about 2 km past Darshani Darwaza. After that the goddess paused and looked back to check if Bhaironnath was still following her. Her footprints became imprinted on the rock where she stopped, hence the name Charan Paduka holy footprints . It is considered the second holy spot on the pilgrimage route. The goddess traveled a considerable distance from Charan Paduka before stopping near a small cave. She asked a nearby ascetic not to disclose her presence. The goddess then took refuge inside the cave, meditating there for nine months, symbolizing the time by a fetus in the womb. This cave became known as Adikumari cave of the primordial virgin or Garbh Gufa womb-like cave.  When Bhaironnath reached this spot and questioned the ascetic, he revealed that pursuing the goddess was like inviting his own death. When Bhaironnath forcefully entered the cave, the goddess struck the back wall with her trishul, creating an exit and running away from there. She climbed a steep hill-face now known as Hathi Mattha wall shaped like an elephant's forehead. It is situated 2.5 km from the Adikumari cave. She then walked downwards to a plateau, now known as Sanjhi Chhat. The pursuit continued until the goddess reached another cave on the Trikuta mountain. She asked Hanuman to guard the entrance and prevent Bhaironnath from entering. When Bhaironnath tried to barge into the cave, a fierce battle erupted between Bhaironnath and Hanuman. When Hanuman almost lost the fight, the Goddess herself assumed the ferocious form of Goddess Mahakali and beheaded Bhaironnath. Bhaironnath's headless body fell near the cave, while his severed head landed far below in the valley, which is now known as Bhairon Ghati. As his head separated from his body, Bhaironnath's head was still alive due to his magic powers and regretted his actions and repeatedly begged the Goddess for forgiveness, worried that the future would call him a sinner. Hearing him call her Maa Mother repeatedly, the Goddess forgave him and declared that Bhaironnath will receive worship. One who visits Bhaironnath after Vaishno Devi will have their wishes fulfilled.  This promise ensured his moksha spiritual liberation. The Bhairon Temple, built at the spot where his head fell, is located about 1.5 km from Sanjhi Chhat. Vaishno Devi then went inside the new cave and transformed herself into three rocks pindikas, each of different colours. The white rock on the left represents Saraswati, the yellow rock in the middle represents Lakshmi and the black rock on the right represents Kali. Shridhar was heartbroken when he heard that the goddess disappeared and gave up food and water, eventually losing consciousness. Goddess Vaishno Devi then granted him a vision of the entire journey and the location of her divine abode. Following the directions shown in his dream, Shridhar eventually found the holy cave. Upon entering and finding the three rocks, Shridhar was blessed with four sons, and his descendants arranged for a grand temple to be built and continue the worship till this day. The shrine is located on the Trikuta mountain, approximately 2.5 km from the Bhairon Temple and stands at an elevation of 5,200 feet above sea level. Inside the holy cave, devotees see the goddess as the three stones. The central stones is sometimes identified specifically as Goddess Vaishno Devi, reflecting her origin as a form of Lakshmi or Vishnu's power. A stream of pure freshwater, known as the Charan Ganga Ganga that originates from the bottom of the stones, flows near the stones inside the cave. Worship is conducted with offerings such as flowers, betel nuts, holy scarves, and coconuts. It is believed that Goddess Vaishno Devi remains in deep meditation in this cave, awaiting the arrival of Lord Vishnu's Kalki avatar at the end of the Kali Yuga.

 Mussoorie Hindi: məsuːɾiː is a hill station and a municipal board in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about 35 kilometres 22 mi from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km 180 mi north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill station is in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayan range. The adjoining town of Landour, which includes a military cantonment, is considered part of greater Mussoorie, as are the townships Barlowganj and Jharipani.

Mussoorie is at an average altitude of 2,005 metres 6,578 ft. To the northeast are the Himalayan snow ranges, and to the south, the Doon Valley and Sivalik Hills ranges. The second highest point is the original Lal Tibba in Landour, with a height of over 2,275 m 7,464 ft. Mussoorie is popularly known as The Queen of the Hills.

There were 3.02 million 30.23 lac travellers to Mussoorie in 2019.

History

Landour Bazaar in the 1890s

Mussoorie has long been known as Queen of the Hills. The name Mussoorie is often attributed to a derivation of mansūr, a shrub which is indigenous to the area. The town is often referred to as Mansuri by Indians.

In 1803 the Gorkhas under Amar Singh Thapa conquered the Garhwal and the Dehra, whereby Mussoorie was established. On 1 November 1814, a war broke out between the Gorkhas and the British. Dehradun and Mussoorie were evacuated by the Gorkhas by the year 1815 and were annexed to the district of Saharanpur by 1819.

Mussoorie as a resort was established in 1825 by Captain Frederick Young, a British military officer. With F. J. Shore, the resident Superintendent of Revenues at Dehradun, who explored the region and built a shooting lodge on Camel's Back Road. Young became a magistrate of Doon in 1823. He raised the first Gurkha Regiment and planted the first potatoes in the valley. His tenure in Mussoorie ended in 1844, after which he served in Dimapur and Darjeeling, later retiring as a General and returning to Ireland. There are no memorials to commemorate Young in Mussoorie. However, there is a Young Road in Dehradun on which ONGC's Tel Bhawan stands.

In 1832, Mussoorie was the intended terminus of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India that began at the southern tip of the country. Although unsuccessful, the Surveyor General of India at the time, George Everest, wanted the new office of the Survey of India to be based in Mussoorie; a compromise location was Dehradun, where it remains. The same year the first beer brewery at Mussoorie was established by Sir Henry Bohle as The Old Brewery. The brewery opened and closed twice before it was re-established by Sir John Mackinnon as Mackinnon & Co. in 1850.

By 1901, Mussoorie's population had grown to 6,461, rising to 15,000 in the summer. Earlier, Mussoorie was approachable by road from Saharanpur, 58 miles 93 km away. Accessibility became easier in 1900 with the railway coming to Dehradun, thus shortening the road trip to 21 miles 34 km.

A view of the Kempty Falls from the top of the hill. Kempty Fall is 15 km 9.3 mi from Mussoorie along Kempty Fall Road.

Another view from top of a hill

The Nehru family, including Nehru's daughter Indira later Indira Gandhi were frequent visitors to Mussoorie in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and stayed at the Savoy Hotel. They also spent time in nearby Dehradun, where Nehru's sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit ultimately settled full-time.

On 20 April 1959, during the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion, the 14th Dalai Lama took up residence at Mussoorie, this until April 1960 when he relocated to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where the Central Tibetan Administration is today headquartered.

The first Tibetan school was established in Mussoorie in 1960. Tibetans settled mainly in Happy Valley. Today, about 5,000 Tibetans live in Mussoorie.

 Mandi formerly known as Mandav Nagar is a major city and a municipal corporation in Mandi District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is situated 145 kilometres 90 mi north of state capital, Shimla in the north-west Himalayas at an average altitude of 880 m 2,890 ft Mandi is connected to the Pathankot through National Highway 154 and to Manali and Chandigarh through National Highway 5. Mandi is approximately 163 km 101 mi from Chandigarh, the nearest major city, and 395 km 245 mi from New Delhi, the national capital. In the 2011 Indian census, Mandi had a population of 26,422. Mandi district is currently the 4th largest economy in the state. Mandi has the second highest sex ratio of 1013 females per thousand males, in the state.

It serves as the headquarters of Mandi District and Zonal Headquarters of central zone including districts namely Kullu, Bilaspur, and Hamirpur. As a tourist place, Mandi is often referred to as Varanasi of Hills or Choti Kashi or Kashi of Himachal. Also, Mandi is the starting point for a trek of the region, Prashar lake trek. From Mandi, trekkers go to Bagi village, which serves as the base village for Prashar lake. Indian Institute of Technology IIT Mandi is a premier institute located 15 kilometres 9.3 mi from Mandi town.

This one-time capital of the princely state of Mandi is a fast-developing town that still retains much of its original charm and character. Mandi was established in 1527 by Ajbar Sen, as the seat of the Mandi State, a princely state till 1948. Foundation of the town was laid on the establishment of Himachal Pradesh in early 1948. Today, it is widely known for the International Mandi Shivaratri Fair. Mandi is also the first heritage city of Himachal Pradesh. It also has the remains of old palaces and notable examples of 'colonial' architecture. Mandi had one of the oldest buildings of Himachal Pradesh.

Origin of name

See also: Renaming of cities in India

The name Mandi and the former name Mandav Nagar has its roots from Great Sage Rishi Mandav who did Spiritual Sadhana in this area, and the rocks turned black due to the severity of his penance. Alternatively, the name may have been derived from the common word mandi which means market in Hindi. It may possibly be connected with the Sanskrit root mandaptika, meaning an open hall or shed,.

While the town's name has always been pronounced mŋɖɪ in the local language, the anglicised version Mandav Nagar was the official name until it was changed to "Mandi". This change is now the most widely used name for the town. Mandi is renowned for its 81 ancient old stone Shaivite temples and their enormous range of fine carving. Because of this, it is also often called the Varanasi of the Hills.

 Hamirpur is a town, municipal council and the headquarters of Hamirpur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is covered by Shivalik Ranges. Hamirpur is located in the Lower West Central Outer Himalayas at an average elevation of 790 M above sea level. Far northern High Altitude Dhauladhar Ranges overlook the city. It is also a major junction on National Highway 3 while National Highway 103 starts at Here. Hamirpur is famous for its high literacy rate, educational institutions and traditional festival of Hamir Utsav. Hamirpur City is spread from Jhaniari to Bhota along NH 3 and NH 103 and is a prominent commercial centre for the district. It is Connected to the National Capital with regular HRTC Volvo and ordinary buses. The nearest airport is Kangra Airport and Mohali International Airport while the nearest railway is in Una at 79 km. Hamirpur City is surrounded by Pine tree forests and has a good city infrastructure ranging from quality educational institutions, NIT, State Universities and Skill Learning centres.

Geography

The exact geographical co-ordinates of Hamirpur is 31.68°N 76.52°E, and the average elevation is 799 m. The highest point in Hamirpur is 1250m Awah Devi peak. Hamirpur experiences Short Warm summers from late April to June when temperature may go up to 40 °C, and cool winters from mid October to April having as low as 7 °C. Monsoon season starts in late June and lasts till early September with fair amount of rainfall. It snowed in some parts of the district in January 2012 and February 2019 respectively. It lies beneath the irregular pattern hills Of Lower Western Himalayas and southern Shivalik Ranges. It has a fair amount of pine forests.

 Dharamshala dɑːrəmʃɑːlə, Hindi: [d̪ərmʃaːla; also spelled Dharamsala is a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It serves as the winter capital of the state and the administrative headquarters of the Kangra district since 1855. The town also hosts the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. Dharamshala was a municipal council until 2015, when it was upgraded to a municipal corporation.

The town is located in the Kangra Valley, in the shadow of the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas at an altitude of 1,457 metres 4,780 ft. References to Dharamshala and its surrounding areas are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as Rig Veda and Mahabharata. The region was under Mughal influence before it was captured by the Sikh Empire in 1785. The East India Company captured the region for the British following the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1846, from when it became part of the British Indian province of the Punjab. Post Indian Independence in 1947, it remained as a small hill station. In 1960, the Central Tibetan Administration was moved to Dharamshala when the 14th Dalai Lama established the Tibetan administration-in-exile after he had to flee Tibet.

In 2015 Dharamshala was included in the Smart Cities Mission and hence will soon have smart solutions implemented for infrastructure and clean environment.

Dharamshala can be viewed as a twin settlement, Upper Dharamshala, located at an elevation of approximately 1,830 metres, is home to the official residence and headquarters of the 14th Dalai Lama. This area, which includes the well-known suburbs of McLeod Ganj and Forsyth Ganj, still reflects a distinctly colonial character, echoing its British-era legacy. In contrast, Lower Dharamshala, situated at around 1,380 metres, has evolved into a bustling commercial hub, serving as the town's primary centre for trade and business.

The economy of the region is highly dependent on agriculture and tourism. The town is now a major hill station and spiritual centre.

As of 2024, Dharamshala is the second most populous city in Himachal Pradesh, with a population of approximately 53,543, ranking only after the state capital, Shimla.

Etymology

Dharamshala Devanagari: धर्मशाला; ITRANS: Dharmashala; IAST: Dharmaśālā) is a Hindi word derived from Sanskrit that is a compound of the words dharma धर्म and shālā शाला, literally 'House or place of Dharma'. In common usage, the word refers to a shelter or rest house for spiritual pilgrims. When permanent settlements were established in the region, there was one such rest house from which the settlement took its name.

Due to a lack of uniform observance of conventions for Hindi transcription and transliteration of the script used to write it, Devanagari, the name of the town has been variously romanised in English and other languages as Dharamshala, Dharamsala, Dharmshala and Dharmsala. These four permutations result from two variables: the transcription of the word धर्म dharma—particularly the second syllable  and that of the third syllable . A strict transliteration of धर्म as written would be dharma . In the modern spoken Hindi of the region, there is a common metathesis in which the vowel and consonant sounds in the second syllable of certain words including धर्म are transposed, which changes dharma to dharam pronounced somewhere between  and . Regarding the third syllable, the Devanagari श corresponds to the English sh sound,  and thus शाला is transcribed in English as shala. Therefore, the most accurate phonetic transcription of the Hindi धर्मशाला into Roman script for common non-technical English usage is either 'Dharamshala' or, less commonly, Dharmshala, both of which render the sh  sound of श in English as 'sh' to convey the correct native pronunciation, 'Dharamshala' dʱərəmˈːlaː or Dharmshala dʱərmˈaːlaː. Regardless of spelling variations, the correct native pronunciation is with the sh sound . 

 Rishikesh, also spelt as Hrishikesh, is a municipal corporation and tehsil of Dehradun district of the Indian state Uttarakhand. It is situated on the right bank of the Ganges river and is a pilgrimage town for Hindus, with ancient sages and saints meditating there in search of higher knowledge. There are numerous temples and ashrams built along the banks of the river.

The city has hosted the annual International Yoga Festival on the first week of March since 1999, giving it the nickname of Yoga Capital of the World. Rishikesh is a vegetarian-only and alcohol-free city.

Rishikesh is the starting point for travelling to the four Char Dham pilgrimage places: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. It is also a starting point for Himalayan tourist destinations such as Harsil, Chopta, Auli, as well as summer and winter trekking destinations like Dodital, Dayara Bugyal, Kedarkantha and Har Ki Dun.

In September 2015, Indian Minister of Tourism Mahesh Sharma announced that Rishikesh and Haridwar would be the first twin national heritage cities. As of 2021, Rishikesh has a total population of 322,825 within the tehsil including the city and its 93 surrounding villages.

The city is governed by Rishikesh Municipal Corporation and tehsil.

Etymology

IAST: Hṛṣīkeśa Sanskrit: ऋषिकेश is a name derived from Vishnu, composed of hṛṣīka meaning senses and īśa meaning lord for a combined meaning as Lord of the Senses. The name commemorates an apparition of Vishnu to Raibhya Rishi, as a result of his tapasya austerities, as Hrishikesha. In the Skanda Purana, this area is known as Kubjāmraka कुब्जाम्रक, as Vishnu appeared under a mango tree.

History

Rishikesh was part of the legendary Kedarkhand mentioned in the Skanda Purana. Legends state that Rama did penance here for killing Ravana, the asura king of Lanka. Lakshmana, Rama's younger brother, crossed the Ganges using two jute ropes at the point where the present Lakshman Jhula लक्ष्मण झूला suspension bridge stands today. Lakshman Jhula also collapsed in 2020. And a much stronger, second in the whole of India, a glass bridge, is being built across the river. The 248-foot long iron-rope suspension bridge built in 1889 was washed away by flooding in 1924. In 1927, it was replaced by the current, stronger bridge built by the United Provinces Public Works Department, connecting the Tapovan, Tehri, and Jonk, Pauri Garhwal districts. A noted suspension bridge named Ram Jhula was built in 1986 at the nearby Sivananda Nagar. The Skanda Purana also mentions the site as "Indrakund" where Indra underwent a holy bath to remove a curse.

The Gazetteer of Dehradun, written by Indian Civil Service officer HG Walton, describes the site as beautifully situated on the right bank of the Ganges, on a high cliff overlooking the river. The place is developing very rapidly, especially since the construction of the new bridge over the Song River, the realignment of the pilgrim road from Raiwala to Rishikesh.

The Ganges, one of the most sacred rivers to Hindus, flows through Rishikesh in its course from the Shivalik Hills of the Himalayas to the plains of northern India with temples built along the banks Shatrughna Mandir, Bharat Mandir, and Lakshman Mandir are the ancient temples established by Adi Shankaracharya. Shatrughna Temple is near the Ram Jhula suspension bridge, while Lakshman Mandir is situated near the Lakshman Jhula suspension bridge.

The historical records mention that some pilgrims used to stay at Rishikesh, either seeking the site itself or using it as a resting place before moving onwards to the Himalayas.

 Haridwar ˌhʌrɪˈdwɑːr; Hindi: ɦəɾɪd̪waːɾ ; formerly Mayapuri is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 according to 2011 census, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. Haridwar is located at the south western part of the state. By law, no meat, fish, & eggs are sold within the city. The reason for such prohibition is to maintain the religious purity and holiness of the pilgrimage city.

The city is situated on the right bank of the Ganges river, at the foothills of the Shivalik ranges. Haridwar lies in a doab region where people speak Khari Boli, which is a dialect of Hindi. The other districts of doab region lie in Western Uttar Pradesh. Haridwar is regarded as a holy place for Hindus, hosting important religious events and serving as a gateway to several prominent places of worship. The word 'Haridwar' means the gateway to the Lord Hari. The most significant of the events here is the Kumbha Mela, which is celebrated every 12 years in Haridwar. During the Haridwar Kumbh Mela, millions of Hindu pilgrims, devotees, and tourists congregate in Haridwar to perform ritualistic bathing on the banks of the Ganges to wash away their sins to attain moksha.

According to Puranic legend, Haridwar, along with Ujjain, Nashik, and Prayag, is one of four sites where drops of amrita, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over from a kumbha pitcher while being carried by the celestial bird deity Garuda just after the Samudra Manthana, or the churning of the ocean of milk. Brahma Kund, the spot where the amrita fell, is believed to be located at Har ki Pauri literally, footsteps of the Lord and is considered to be the most sacred ghat of Haridwar.

Haridwar is also the primary centre of the Kanwar pilgrimage, in which millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganges and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in Shiva shrines.

Haridwar is additionally a passage for the Chota Char Dham the four principal pilgrim destinations in Uttarakhand: Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath.

Today, the city is developing beyond its religious importance with the fast-developing industrial estate of the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand SIDCUL, and the close by township of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited BHEL, as well as its affiliated ancillaries.

Etymology

Meandering main Ganga river, known here as Neel Dhara left and the Ganga canal right, passing through Haridwar.

The modern name of the town has two spellings: Haridwar and Hardwar. Each of these names has its own connotation.

In Sanskrit, the liturgical language of Hinduism, Hari means Vishnu, while dvāra means gateway. So, Haridwar translates to The Gateway to Vishnu. It earns this name because it is typically the place where pilgrims start their journey to visit a prominent temple of Vishnu: Badrinath Temple.

Similarly, Hara could also mean Shiva. Hence, Hardwar could stand for Gateway to Shiva. Hardwar is also a typical place for pilgrims to start their journey in order to reach Mount Kailash, Kedarnath, the northernmost Jyotirlinga and one of the sites of the smaller Char Dham pilgrimage circuit – all important places for worship for Hindus.

According to legend, it was in Haridwar that goddess Ganga descended when Shiva released the mighty river from the locks of his hair. The River Ganga, after flowing for 253 kilometres 157 mi from its source at Gaumukh at the edge of the Gangotri Glacier, enters the Gangetic Plain for the first time at Haridwar, which gave the city its ancient name, Gangadwára.

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Hurdwar, a picture by S. Prout with a poetical illustration by L. E. L.

In the annotations to her poetical illustration Hurdwar, a Place of Hindoo Pilgrimage, Letitia Elizabeth Landon provides information on this name derivation, and also the story of the supposed origin of the River Ganges. The accompanying plate is engraved from a painting by Samuel Prout. In sacred writings, it has been differently specified as Kapilasthan, Gangadwar and Mayapuri.

History

Main article: Haridwar in scriptures

Prince Bhagiratha in penance for the salvation of 60,000 of his ancestors

In the scriptures, Haridwar has been variously mentioned as Kapilasthana, Gangadvāra and Mayapuri. It is also an entry point to the Char Dham the four main centres of pilgrimage in Uttarakhand viz, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri.

Gangadhara, Shiva bearing the Descent of the Ganges River as Parvati and Bhagiratha, and the bull Nandi look on. c. 1740

"O Yudhishthira, the spot where Ganga rusheth past, cleaving the foremost of mountains which is frequented by Gandharvas and Yakshas and Rakshasas and Apsaras, and inhabited by hunters, and Kinnaras, is called Gangadwara Haridwar. O King, Sanatkumara regardeth that spot visited by Brahmarshis, as also the Tirtha Kanakhala that is near to it, as sacred."

The Mahabharata, Vana Parva: Tirthayatra Parva: Section XC.

In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, where sage Dhaumya tells Yudhishthira about the tirthas of India, Gangadvāra, i.e., Haridwar and Kankhal, have been referred to, the text also mentions that Sage Agastya did penance an act showing sorrow or regret for sin here, with the help of his wife, Lopamudra the princess of Vidharba.

Sage Kapila is said to have an ashram here, giving it its ancient name, Kapila or Kapilasthana.

 Darjeeling dɑːrˈdʒiːlɪŋ, Nepali: dard͡ziliŋ, Bengali: darˌdʒiliŋ] is a city in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of 2,045 metres 6,709 ft. To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, to the east the Kingdom of Bhutan, to the north the Indian state of Sikkim, and farther north the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Bangladesh lies to the south and southeast, and most of the state of West Bengal lies to the south and southwest, connected to the Darjeeling region by a narrow tract. Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, rises to the north and is prominently visible on clear days.

In the early 19th century, during East India Company rule in India, Darjeeling was identified as a potential summer retreat for British officials, soldiers and their families. The narrow mountain ridge was leased from the Kingdom of Sikkim, and eventually annexed to British India. Experimentation with growing tea on the slopes below Darjeeling was highly successful. Thousands of labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal to clear the forests, build European-style cottages and work in the tea plantations. The widespread deforestation displaced the indigenous peoples. Residential schools were established in and around Darjeeling for the education of children of the domiciled British in India. By the late-19th century, a novel narrow-gauge mountain railway, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, was bringing summer residents into the town and carrying a freight of tea out for export to the world. After India's independence in 1947, as the British left Darjeeling, its cottages were purchased by wealthy Indians from the plains and its tea plantations by out-of-town Indian business owners and conglomerates.

Darjeeling's population today is constituted largely of the descendants of the indigenous and immigrant labourers that were employed in the original development of the town. Although their common language, the Nepali language, has been given official recognition at the state and federal levels in India, the recognition has created little meaningful employment for the language's speakers nor has it increased their ability to have a significantly greater say in their political affairs. The tea industry and tourism are the mainstays of the town's economy. Deforestation in the region after India's independence has caused environmental damage, affecting the perennial springs that supply the town's water. The population of Darjeeling meanwhile has exploded over the years, and unregulated construction, traffic congestion and water shortages are common. Many young locals, educated in government schools, have taken to migrating out for the lack of jobs matching their skills. Like out-migrants from the neighbouring northeastern India, they have been subjected to discrimination and racism in some Indian cities.

 Matheran is a partially automobile free hill station and a municipal council in the Karjat taluka of the Raigad district located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Matheran is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and one of the smallest hill stations in India. It is located in the Western Ghats, at an elevation of around 800 m 2,625 feet above sea level. It is about 90 km from Mumbai, and 120 km from Pune. This proximity to these urban areas makes it a weekend getaway for many. Matheran, which means forest on the forehead of the mountains in Marathi, is an eco-sensitive region as declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.

There are many hotels and Parsi bungalows in the area. British colonial architecture is preserved in Matheran. The roads are made of red laterite earth.

History

Purple Flowers at Matheran

Matheran in 1874

Matheran map of 1911

Matheran was identified by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the then district collector of Raigad district in the May of 1850. Lord Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay, laid the foundations for its development as a future hill station. Matheran was developed as a getaway from the regional summer heat. It was also the birthplace of the freedom fighter Veer Bhai Kotwal.

The Matheran Railway

The Matheran Hill Railway was built in 1907 by Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy and covers a distance of 20 km 12 mi, through forest land. The railway was inspected by UNESCO officials, but failed to make it to the list of the World Heritage Sites. India's other Hill Railways like the Darjeeling Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway are already on the list.

The Toy train was shut down for the most part in 2016 and 2017. It restarted operations on 26 January 2018, re-inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis. However, it was temporarily suspended again after a landslide in the 2019. It then began operating as an hourly shuttle between Aman Lodge and Matheran Station.

Soil and rocks

Geographically the rock types are solely composed of Deccan trap with inter trappeans of Cretaceous, Eoceuerage and laterites of a still younger age. The rock is basalt, which has given rise to secondary alteration known as laterite. The laterite predominates the hills and almost covers the hilltops. This makes the hard exposed surfaces of the laterite show red gravelly earth. The soil has a vermicular or pisolitic structure and contains a large amount of water. There is little soil cover over most of the hilltop. The topmost layer of rock is a soft porous iron-clay, through which there is drainage of water by the beginning of summer.

 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of over 123 million as of 2025, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.

The Meiji period saw Japan pursue rapid industrialization, modernization, militarism, and overseas colonization. The country annexed Korea in 1910, invaded China in 1937, and attacked the U.S. and European colonial powers in 1941, thus entering World War II as an Axis power. After being defeated in the Pacific War and suffering the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S. Since the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation referred to as the Lost Decades.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature known as the National Diet. Widely considered a great power and the only Asian member of the G7, it maintains one of the world's strongest militaries but has constitutionally renounced its right to declare war. A developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP, it is a global leader in the automotive, electronics, and robotics industries, in addition to making significant contributions to science and technology. It has one of the world's highest life expectancies, but is undergoing a population decline. The culture of Japan is well known around the world, particularly its popular culture as expressed in animation, art, comics, cuisine, fashion, films, music, television, and video games.

 China, officially the People's Republic of China PRC, is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17 of the world population. China borders fourteen countries by land across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers 3,700,000 sq mi, making it the third-largest country by area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and 2 semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city by urban area and largest financial center.

China saw the first humans in the region arriving during the Paleolithic era. By the 2nd millennium BCE dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature and philosophy. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor, ushering in two millennia of imperial dynasties. With the invention of gunpowder and paper, the establishment of the Silk Road, and the Great Wall, Chinese culture flourished and has heavily influenced its neighbors and lands further afield. China began to cede parts of the country in the 19th century, to European powers by a series of unequal treaties. The 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China was established the following year. The country was unstable and fragmented during the Warlord Era, which ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang to reunify the country.

The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when Kuomintang forces purged members of the Chinese Communist Party CCP. China was invaded by the Empire of Japan in 1937, leading the CCP and Kuomintang to form the Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the Kuomintang resumed their civil war. In 1949, the CCP proclaimed the People's Republic of China and forced the Kuomintang-led government to retreat to the island of Taiwan. The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the legitimate government. Following the implementation of land reforms, attempts by the CCP to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was responsible for the Great Chinese Famine which resulted in millions of deaths, and the Cultural Revolution was a period of turmoil and persecution. The reform and opening up that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist planned economy towards a market-based economy, spurring an economic boom. A movement for political liberalization stalled after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

Since 1949, China has been a unitary communist state with the CCP as its sole ruling party. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a member of numerous multilateral and regional organizations. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is the world's largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. China is the second-wealthiest country, albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy and human rights. The country has been one of the fastest-growing economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army and the second-largest defense budget. It is described as either a potential or established superpower due to its influence in the fields of geopolitics, technology, manufacturing, economics and culture. China is known for its cuisine and culture. It is a megadiverse country, and has 60 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of the Americas.

South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Drake Passage; North America, the Caribbean Sea lying to the northwest, and the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica, and the Antarctic Peninsula to the south.

The continent includes twelve sovereign countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela; two dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and one internal territory: French Guiana.

The Caribbean South America ABC islands Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago are geologically located on the South-American continental shelf, and thus may be considered part of South America as well. Panama, Ascension Island a part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and Bouvet Island a dependency of Norway may also be considered parts of South America.

South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers 6,890,000 sq mi. Its population as of 2021 has been estimated at more than 434 million. South America ranks fourth in area after Asia, Africa, and North America and fifth in population after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with almost half of the continent's population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and Peru. In recent decades, Brazil has also generated half of the continent's GDP and has become the continent's first regional power.

Most of the population lives near the continent's western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. The geography of western South America is dominated by the Andes mountains; in contrast, the eastern part contains both highland regions and vast lowlands where rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco and Paraná flow. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of the Southern Cone located in the middle latitudes.

The continent's cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of Indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the overwhelming majority of South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese, and societies and states are rich in Western traditions. Relative to Africa, Asia, and Europe, post-1900 South America has been a peaceful continent with few wars, although high rates of violent crime remain a concern in some countries.

 North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The region includes Middle America comprising the Caribbean, Central America, and Northern America.

North America covers an area of around 24,709,000 square kilometers 9,540,000 square miles, representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8 of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. As of 2021, North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in 23 independent states and territories, or about 7.5% of the world's population. In human geography, the terms North America and North American refers to Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States.

It is unknown with certainty how and when first human populations first reached North America. People were known to live in the Americas at least 20,000 years ago, but various evidence points to possibly earlier dates. The Paleo-Indian period in North America followed the Last Glacial Period, and lasted until about 10,000 years ago when the Archaic period began. The classic stage followed the Archaic period, and lasted from approximately the 6th to 13th centuries. Beginning in 1000 AD, the Norse were the first Europeans to begin exploring and ultimately colonizing areas of North America.

In 1492, the exploratory voyages of Christopher Columbus led to a transatlantic exchange, including migrations of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the early modern period. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, immigrants from Europe, Asia, and descendants of these respective groups.

Europe's colonization in North America led to most North Americans speaking European languages, such as English, Spanish, and French, and the cultures of the region commonly reflect Western traditions. However, relatively small parts of North America in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America have indigenous populations that continue adhering to their respective pre-European colonial cultural and linguistic traditions.

Further information: Naming of the Americas, New Spain, Turtle Island Native American folklore, and Vinland

A 1621 map of North America

A 1908 map of North America, published in The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter

The Americas were named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci explored South America between 1497 and 1502, and was the first European to suggest that the Americas represented a landmass then unknown to the Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller published a world map, and placed the word America on the continent of present-day South America. The continent north of present-day Mexico was then referred to as Parias. On a 1553 world map published by Petrus Apianus, North America was called Baccalearum, meaning realm of the Cod fish, in reference to the abundance of cod on the East Coast.

Waldseemüller used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form of America, following the examples of Europa, Asia, and Africa. Americus originated from Medieval Latin Emericus see Saint Emeric of Hungary, coming from the Old High German name Emmerich. Map makers later extended the name America to North America.

In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used the term America on his world map of the entire Western Hemisphere. On his subsequent 1569 map, Mercator called North America America or New India America sive India Nova.

The Spanish Empire called its territories in North and South America Las Indias, and the name given to the state body that oversaw the region was called the Council of the Indies.