Knowing the history of the Kanwar Yatra is very difficult, and it does not appear in any Vedic literature. But, of course! We find some of the references here and there in order to tie them to the history of the Hindu religion, the oldest religion in the world—the most plural, inclusive, eclectic, and expansive of faiths, as said by Shashi Tharoor in his book, “The Hindu Way.”
The mythological stories of the Kanwar Yatra begin with the churning of the ocean, where poison comes out before the Amrit (elixir) and the world start burning from its heat. Then, the Lord Shiva comes forward to swallow it, and by its effect, his neck starts burning and tuning black from its effect. All the devotees of the Lord Shiva begin to fetch Ganga Water on their shoulders, dangling with the help of bamboo poles to pour on his as Abhishek to provide him relief from the burning heat. Furthermore, in Treta Yuga, Ravana gives impetus to this ritual by carrying water on his shoulder from Gangotri and pouring it on him as Abhishek to appease him from the negativity of the negative energy of poison.
Having said that, if you ponder over the rituals, it will teach you the importance of water in our lives and how it has the healing touch to cure you from suffering. The religion shows you the path to remain humble and understand the importance of every atom or molecule that exists in the universe. Kanwar Yatra must be encouraged by the government to create awareness among the people about the importance of water. With each passing decade, the groundwater table gets depleted, and the world has been noticing it for centuries. Around 4.9 million people were impacted by groundwater contamination as of March 2024, primarily due to salt and iron.
The religion is basically a storehouse of wisdom; if you decode it for the benefit of society, it will work marvellously, but policymakers or leaders of the country galvanize it to polarize the society to gain an edge in the political battle. And this is what is happening in India. Uttar Pradesh government directives to eateries for displaying their original names on name plates draw flak from the opposition parties because India is a secular country and practicing any faith is a private matter. Based on this ground, the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh government must be criticized, but on the contrary, changing the name of eateries to suit the Hindu faith is also illegal and a gross injustice to the faith of people.
Apart from this, the Indian government used to give subsidies to Haj pilgrims until 2018, but no one ever criticized it, although Haj Subsidy has been phased out completely and the Haj Subsidy fund is being utilized for educational programs for the progress and development of minority girls. In order to justify it, the UP government told the court that “following the precedence of Bijnor’s riot in 2022, the state government has issued a directive to the eateries to display their name, address, and mobile numbers on the front of eateries. The reason for the security precautions is that the Yatra necessitates practicing austerities and upholding holiness, and several Islamist owners assume Hindu names to run their business of eateries.”
However, the Supreme Court of India has put a hold on it for displaying nameplate details on 22 July 2024.