Hastinapur

Hastinapur is a town of great historical significance in India and is located in the Doab region of Uttar Pradesh.  It is at a distance of 110 km from the national capital of Delhi and 37 km from the town of Meerut.  

Hastinapur literally means the city of elephants, as ‘Hastin’ stands for elephants and ‘pura’ means city. It was the capital of the kingdom of the ‘Kauravas’, a dynasty of kings, for which they fought a war in the great epic Mahabharata. In fact the entire Mahabharata took place in this very city. This is precisely the reason why the town has a lot of cultural relevance for Indians, as Mahabharata has a huge role to play in Hindu mythology.

There are various historical temples and places of interest in Hastinapur. The Old Pandeshwar Temple and the Karan Temple are the temples of Lord Shiva, whereas the Digamber Jain Bada Mandir and the Lotus Temple are the main Jain temples. The Kailash Parvat is a collection of 72 temples and there are many new temples being constructed in and around it.

There are still a few ancient temples and stoops that have not sustained the ravages of time and do not exist anymore. In fact, the city was actually located on the course of the holy river Ganges. The main excavation in the town was carried out in the early 1950s by the Archaeological Survey of India, which is also when the correlation to the epic of Mahabharata was officially established.

The best time to visit Hastinapur is the winter season, starting September right up to February. The summer and monsoons can get extremely hot and humid. There are buses and trains that ply from Delhi to Meerut and taxis there on to Hastinapur. A cab can also be hired from Delhi for the entire journey and be used within Hastinapur, as the town has practically no means of public transportation.