Kumbh Mela
(vero;2013-Jan-04)
A little background on the world's largest religious gathering
The Hindu festival of the Kumbh Mela has its origin in Indian mythology, in a war between Good and Evil over an urn (Kumbh) of immortal nectar (called Amrita) which would have given supremacy to whom possesses it. Gods and Demons fought an epic battle for it over 12 days, until Vishnu got hold of the urn and flew away mounted on Garuda. However, during the flight, 4 drops of nectar fell to Earth in four locations, each of them becoming sacred: Prayag (today's Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.
The Kumbh Mela is held every three years and each town hosts the festival in turn every 12 years. The exact dates are set by astrologers, when certain planet configurations are said to transform the waters of the sacred rivers flowing through those cities into nectar. This is the world's largest religious gathering: it attracts millions of pilgrims to wash away their sins and purify their souls.
Allahabad is the holiest site of all and hosts the Maha (Great) Kumbh Mela every 12 years (next one being in 2013 as it happens). Celebrations will take place from January 27th to February 25th, the highlight being the six most auspicious bathing dates defined by the astrologers. Around 70 million pilgrims are believed to have participated in the last Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, in 2001, and even more are expected for this one. Such a gathering of masses is a challenge to infrastructure and sanitation in a scale difficult to imagine: complete tent villages are set up to receive and lodge the pilgrims, transport and food (plus washing and toilet facilities!) must be provided.
This commercial website is just an example of the many companies organising trips for pilgrims from all over India (and the world).
We were in Haridwar in 2004, a “normal” year for this holy city (meaning not a Mela year). Even so, the city was thronged with pilgrims bathing and performing their rituals in the Ganges waters. We were particularly impressed as we left the town by bus, on our way to Nainital: there were lines of pilgrims, walking back home along the road, carrying with them sacred Ganges water in special containers. Imagine a human column, more than 20 kilometres long, using a full lane of the road (ours): the bus had a really hard time to make its way, overtaking them being so difficult because of the traffic coming from the opposite direction. We could hardly believe what we saw (and feared we would never get to Nainital).
We will keep away of Allahabad during the actual Mela dates, but intend to stop in the city in May on our way back to Mumbai. In fact, during this trip, we will also visit Nasik and Ujjain, which means the Kumbh Mela will be a recurring theme of this journey.
$ updated from: Background.htxt Fri 16 Aug 2024 15:40:15 trvl2 — Copyright © 2024 Vero and Thomas Lauer unless otherwise stated | All rights reserved $