Haridwar is an important pilgrimage town and a municipality in the Uttarakhand district of Haridwar, India . The Ganges River, after flowing for 253 kilometers from its birth at Gaumukh on the edge of the Gangotri Glacier , enters the Indo-Ganges Plain of North India for the first time in Haridwar, which gave its name to the ancient city of Gangadwara .
Haridwar is considered as one of the seven most sacred places for Hindus. According to the Manthan Samudra, Haridwar along with Ujjain, Nasik and Allahabad is one of four sites where Amrit drops, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over the caster, while performing by the celestial Garuda bird. This manifests itself in the Kumbha Mela is celebrated every 3 years in one of the 4 places, and so every 12 years in Haridwar. In the midst of the Kumbha Mela, millions of pilgrims, devotees and tourists congregate in Haridwar to perform ritual bathing on the banks of the Ganges River to wash away their sins to reach Moksha. Brahma Kund, the place where the Amrit fell, is located in Har ki Pauri (literally, “footprints of the Lord”) and is considered to be the holiest ghat of Haridwar.’