Climate of haridwar|Haridwar climate

The region now known as Haryana--the Madhyama Dis (middle region) of the Later Vedic Period (c. 800-500 BC)--was the birthplace of the Hindu religion. It was in this area that the first hymns of the so-called Aryans were sung and the most ancient manuscripts were written. Urban settlements in Ghaggar Valley date from before 3000 BC. From about 1500 BC, Aryan tribes became the first of many groups to invade the region. The area was the home of the legendary Bharata dynasty, which gave India its Hindi name, Bharat. The epic battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, recorded in the Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata, took place at Kurukshetra. In the 3rd century BC, the area was incorporated into the Mauryan Empire. It later became an important power base for the Mughals; the battle of Panipat in 1526 established Mughal rule in India.

The area was ceded to British in 1803. In 1832 it was transferred to the then North-Western Provinces, and in 1858 Haryana became a part of Punjab, remaining as such after the partition of India in 1947. The demand for a Haryana state, however, was raised even before India's independence in 1947. Lala Lajpat Rai and Asaf Ali, prominent figures in the national movement, advocated a separate state of Haryana. Sri Ram Sharma, a veteran freedom fighter, headed a Haryana Development Committee to focus attention on the concept of an autonomous state. The demand for unilingual states by Sikhs and Hindus gained momentum in the early 1960s. In 1966, with the passage of the Punjab Reorganization Act (and in accordance with the earlier recommendations of the States Reorganization Commission), Haryana became India's 17th state.

The temple of Chandi Devi atop the Neel Parvat on the other bank of river Ganges was constructed in AD 1929 by Suchat Singh, the then King of Kashmir. The temple is a 3-km trek from Chandi Ghat and it is believed that the Adi Shankaracharya established the main statue in eighth century AD. The Chandi Devi Temple is now also accessible by a ropeway, which starts near the Gauri Shankar Temple.

The temple atop the Bilwa Parvat is dedicated to Goddess Mansa Devi. One can have a panoramic view of Haridwar, the Ganges, and the countryside from this place.