Chhota Haridwar

Chhota Haridwar is a popular ghat and pilgrimage site on the Upper Ganga Canal at Muradnagar in Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh. Located on the Delhi-Meerut Road, it is regarded as a symbolic alternative to Haridwar for holy bathing. Devotees visit to take a dip in the canal water considered to be Ganga water, offer prayers at small temples along the ghats, and attend evening aarti.

Visitors can expect a long canal-side ghat with stepped bathing areas, flowing water of the Upper Ganga Canal, small temples and shrines along the bank, and open areas for prayer and offerings. The setting is an urban canal-side religious complex with concrete ghats, bathing steps, changing areas and food stalls. Visitors can observe or participate in ritual bathing, aarti, and temple darshan, and walk along the canal promenade.

The site is associated with the Upper Ganga Canal, constructed in the mid-19th century during British rule to carry Ganga water from Haridwar to the Doab region. The ghat at Muradnagar developed as a religious bathing place because the canal carries Ganga water, allowing devotees to perform rituals locally without traveling to Haridwar, hence the name Chhota Haridwar.

Chhota Haridwar holds religious significance for Hindus as a place for holy bathing, prayer, and ancestral rituals. Bathing in the canal is considered purifying, similar to bathing in the Ganga at Haridwar. The ghat is especially crowded during auspicious occasions such as Ganga Dussehra, Kartik Purnima, and Makar Sankranti, and for asthi visarjan and other rites.