Kanwarias at Haridwar, ready to hit the road!

Kanwarias are devotees of Shiva. Dressed in orange coloured clothes, they carry holy water (kanwar) of river Ganga from Neelkanth, Gomukh or Haridwar to be poured on the Shivlinga in their hometown on the occasion of Shivratri. This journey on foot, when completed, is supposed to fulfil their wishes and endear them to Lord Shiva. Legend has it that at the time of 'samudra manthan' (turning of the seas upside-down) both ambrosia and poison surfaced. While many gods and goddesses eagerly tasted amrit, no one wanted to have poison. Yet, consuming poison was crucial or else it would have caused enormous destruction had it touched the Earth. This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.