What is the significance of Asthi Visarjan in Haridwar?

Asthi Visarjan — the immersion of a deceased person’s ashes and bone fragments — in the Ganga at Haridwar is believed to liberate the soul of the departed and ensure its passage to the divine realm. The Ganga at Har ki Pauri is considered particularly sacred for this rite because of the divine nectar drop that fell here and because of the Ganga’s descent from the Himalayas, giving its waters extraordinary purificatory power. Haridwar’s Tirth Purohits maintain ancestral registers recording families who have performed this rite across generations.