The Kanwar Yatra now affects everything from traffic to school schedules and policing. While the idea of pilgrimage in the Hindu religion is ancient, the Kanwar Yatra as seen today is a relatively new phenomenon. Like many Indian festivals, Kanwar Yatra is also linked to the Samudra Manthan, the cosmic churning of the ocean. Lord Shiva then swallowed the poison, which turned his throat blue and earned him the epithet of Neelkantha (the blue-throated one). From my analysis of various local texts and accounts, the Kanwar Yatra appears to have originated in Bihar’s Sultanganj in the 1700s.