Brijesh Thakur, an Acharya from Sampoornanand University, Benaras, says Kanwar Yatra should be held on the lines of Amarnath Yatra with only registered pilgrims. His views:
Each year, the month of Shravan brings Kanwar yatris on road. The Kanwar has been propounded as a religious offering to the deity Shiva in the holy month and culminates with the jal abhishek of the Shivling on the Shivratri that falls in Shravan. It is held in different parts of the country where devotees fill the pots with Gangajal and carry it in a Kanwar on their shoulders.
While this was a ritual deeply rooted in the intense and tough devotion of Mahadev, with time, it has become a means to appear entitled during the time of taking Kanwar and there is much noise and hullabaloo around it than bhakti-bhav. While very few carried this ritual in earlier times, nowadays lakhs of devotees walk on roads, barefoot at times, carrying the holy water. This is bound to affect the general population. There are traffic jams and sometimes hooliganism and violence along the route.
But putting a stop to the kanwar yatra is not a solution to this problem. Instead, the government needs to make special arrangements for the kanwarias during this season and usually the devout create no trouble. They are deep in bhakti. It may be some outside elements that mingle with the devotees that actually create trouble. These could just be petty trouble makers and those that have nothing better to do or maybe from a certain political party to oppose the government’s efforts. All this disruption is also caused by the youth that simply join the multitude to have fun, enjoy the free food, dance and create hungama during the yatra. They know that they shall not be caught in such a huge gathering.
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Kanwar Yatra surely cannot be banned. There is a deep religious significance to the event and religious sentiments are deeply attached as the entire yatra is not an easy one. It is tough and the devout follow it with full religious fervour. The government can create a separate route on the outskirts of the city for them.
Rather, it would be a good idea to set up a management committee to register yatris just the way it is done for the Amarnath yatris. This way the miscreants can be booked and hooligans held accountable for any loss of property or disputes and fights. All the details of Kanwar yatris can be taken and on the basis of it the entire event spanning a couple of weeks can be well monitored.
Anyone found guilty of any sort of misbehaviour or hooliganism should be banned for five years or even life from undertaking this religious yatra. A committee would serve in the best interest of the common people and even the kanwariyas during this auspicious yatra. Everything would then be in control and people will also be deterred from unnecessarily joining the yatra if their motive is not devotion. It will keep all sorts of miscreants at bay.
Daak kanwar also need to be organised and controlled. Daak kanwars are huge and the people carrying them have to keep up a certain speed while walking. So all this can be well managed with the help of a government formed committee. If the government can control larger issues at helm, this is a small event they need to just cater to with a little effort.
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As told to Deepa Gupta