Haridwar (Hindi: हरिद्वार) finds mention in numerous scriptures (religious texts) and manuscripts of antiquity, as well as in various historical texts of the recent past. Its significance is also enhanced by the fact that it has been hosting, the famous Kumbh Mela, every 12 years, since time immemorial, wherein thousands of people from all over the country take part, and with whom many stories of its stories have travelled far and wide, and survived in distant lands as a part of the collective oral history of the city.