A society is the aggregation of individuals living in the same eco-system. The individuals concerned are usually more connected with their immediate family. Both a good individual and a strong family, are the base of healthy society. A healthy and strong society can uphold the principles of humanity. One of the important qualities of a good individual is being kind to other living beings and to act with compassion. Any religion that instills these qualities in its followers will only help in improving the society and thereby the economy. Kanwar Yatra is one such religious pilgrimage that motivates individuals to follow these key human values and helps them gain spiritual merit. In the era of non-stop 24/7 media, where caste-based discrimination is often associated with Hindu society, Kanwar Mela brings a refreshing counter-narrative.

Kanwar Mela is a religious pilgrimage as part of which a devotee collects holy water from his/her chosen location to the temple of his/her choice. The devotee chooses the starting point of the journey, the end point, and also how s/he would like to make the pilgrimage, i.e. by foot, cycle, car etc. The only thing that a devotee is to take note of is the specific day of pouring holy water on the holy Shivling, which is Shivratri.

For a 30-year-old MNC employee, working in India, a typical day is devoid of any physical labour. Taking a week long holiday for something like this is least expected. However, the nourishment which the yatra provided me is worth, far more than a weekend of leisure on a Goa beach or at a pub or bar.

The day I finished my 7 day long Kanwar Yatra, a 200 km walk from Har ki Podi, Haridwar to a Shiva Temple in Delhi, I came across an article criticizing the Yatra on the pretext of losses incurred by industries in Meerut city. Being an economist cum social scientist and a participant of this pilgrimage for more than 10 years, I felt myself duty bound to write about the benefits of the same. Since, I had personally undertaken this pilgrimage I am, therefore, bound to know more about this pilgrimage than a reporter at the sidelines who has never bothered to go on a Kanwar yatra himself.

From the point of view of an outsider, the cost is clearly visible in terms of traffic jams, closure of roads, and acts of aggression among Kanwariyas due to the paucity of walking space. However, the benefits, largely ignored, far outweigh these trivial costs. To name a few benefits of Kanwar Yatra: (1) It brings popular cheer and mass entertainment to millions of households residing in remote semi-urban and rural areas, thus invigorating them, (2) It increases social bonding, feeling of brotherhood and harmony which would spread peace in society and is priceless, (3) it also brings out a sense of the patriotism among millions of Indians. These are over and above the individual gains in terms of increased spiritual and will power, and improved physical and mental health which are again tough to quantify. To help you understand these benefits, I have put up the following narrative of my journey.

For me, this Yatra started with the pouring of Ganga Jal in plastic cans after completing Shiva Puja on the Ghats of Haridwar. Once Ganga Jal cans were on my shoulders, I was no longer a US return PhD Scholar but just another Bhola (literally means gullible), a guileless devotee of Lord Shiva.

Bhola is one of the many names of Lord Shiva. Each Bhola needs to safely complete the Kanwar Yatra while adhering to the rules of Kanwar. The rules are very hard to adhere too. It has been said, only Bhagwan Parshuram was able to adhere to all the rules and completed the first Kanwar Yatra. Today, each Kanwariya tries to adhere to as many rules as his physical and mental strength may allow. These rules of penance stimulate and increase the physical, mental and spiritual strength of a Kanwariya. Over and above the rules for each participant on Kanwar yatra, their family members also follow strict rules with the belief that their penance will let no harm come to the Kanwariya. These rules bring in a discipline to the life of individual devotee and instill a sense of belonging among the other family members as they’re required to follow stricter rules.

Each Bhola when on his Yatra, stays calm, keep his focus on his Kanwar and meditates in the name of Shiva. These saintly virtues bring him respect from millions of co-participants, volunteers, and members of general public. People living in Haridwar, who are being habitual to the religious pilgrimage, seem indifferent to these virtues but the residents of cities and villages further on, show the real zeal, respect and excitement. Thousands of people line up to see the differently designed Kanwars. Many Kanwariyas perform stunts and folk dance for public. Tricolors are used to give the religious Yatra a nationalist flavor. High decibel DJ gives it a carnival type atmosphere with devotional and patriotic songs playing non-stop in the background. Thousands of Kanwariyas dance despite tiredness and exhaustion. General public also share stage with their fellow Bholas.

One of the great features of this pilgrimage is there is no caste-based segregation among Kanwariya, every Kanwariya is Bhola and no member of the general public can imagine discriminating among them. The TV debates and newspaper columns dedicated to caste-based discrimination seem to belong to a different universe when seen from the perspective of a Kanwariya as every single one of them is served as Bhola.

Millions of spectators to the Kanwar Yatra enjoy the free food provided by the wealthy businessmen and other Kanwariyas. They interact with the people coming from different strata of society and different parts of India. For many villagers, this is the biggest carnival of their village.

Even with the cost of closing down a few factories in big cities, the benefits of Kanwar Yatra are immense. Other than providing leisure to millions of people on their pilgrimage, it also helps the less privileged save money on their expenses. I met a couple of families who were on the Kanwar Yatra on a total budget of 3000 rupees (less than 50$). The discipline and dedication shown by the participants ensure good character building for an individual. These unique attributes of Kanwar Yatra make the pilgrimage a positive contributor to society and a strong force in nation building.

Based on my experience of living in the United States, holding such a big decentralized carnival peacefully is an achievement in itself. Since, India has been a success story in Economics (India was a top economy for 1600 years out of 2000 years of known Economic History) and socio-political system (India is only country where we have peaceful co-existence of diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious groups), US social scientists are quite keen to understand how it works. I am not surprised that scholars from Harvard University did research on the Kumbh mela (January 2013) in India. Although, they are likely to use their research to make the case against our Akhadas, eventually their learning will also be used to improve their own system. Given the fact that knowledge bank of US scholars is based on last 500 years of research, which is miniscule compared to the 10000 years old history of Hinduism/Vedic Civilization, the potential to draw from Indian knowledge bank for solving contemporary problems is immense. The Kanwar Yatra is one such traditional knowledge bank available to us. The question is, will Indian scholars ever realize the contribution of Kanwar Yatrain building the great society, and hence the civilization, or will this opportunity be exploited by foreigners?