We visited the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, UP as part of a 15 member group led by Shagufta Siddhi, founder of Ganga Jamun cultural tours.

In a nutshell:

To us, the Kumbh felt like a microcosm of people of india (not in terms of proportional representation though of the different languages, faiths & regions), Different people came for different purpose – some to find the almighty, some to find their own inner self, some came to immerse themselves at the sangam to wash away their sins & sorrows, while others came to just immerse themselves in the event……. The experience was deep, it was real, it was thought provoking & it left a mark. Like always, Shagufta Siddhi, founder of Ganga Jamuni & her team mate Karn, led us beautifully through the ups & downs of the trip …… & immensely helped us get a clear perspective.

Shagufta Siddhi, founder of Ganga Jamuni

Where we stayed: Aagaman, tent city

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Here’s a brief summary of what you will get to know about Kumbh & what we experienced in the 3 days:

1. What is the Kumbh Mela all about? What exactly happens at kumbh? Why do people go to Kumbh after 6 years, 12 years or 144 years?
2. Where exactly does the mela happen? In the city?
3. What’s the mythological backstory of Kumbh
4. What’s the historical backstory of Kumbh
5. Who are the dasnami Naga sanyasis & why do some of them carry arms. Why do we read about fights between Naga sadhus
6. How was our experience

Location – Prayagraj / Allahabad

Emperor Akbar named the place llahabad initially & later Allahabad. Akbar commissioned a fort at the confluence in the same area of an earlier fort. Prayag is mentioned in many mythological & court literature over the centuries. The Magh Mela / triveni sangam mela have found its mention in many texts. Islamic court writers & later the British chroniclers have periodically written about the mela.

1. What is the Kumbh Mela all about? What exactly happens at kumbh? 

Kumbh means earthen pot (कलश). Here it refers to a pot filled with Amrit अमृत (nectar of immortality).

Kumbh Mela is the largest religious celebration on earth and the biggest public gathering in the world. As the name suggests, is a mela (folk fair) where villagers come from faraway places, take a dip स्नान at the confluence (त्रिवेणी संगम) of  rivers Ganga, Yamuna & the (now lost) Saraswati, visit the temples in the vicinity.

3 important snan dates that attract most devotees

1. Makar sankranti
2. Mauni amavasya
3. Vasant panchami

Why this time & why after an interval of 6, 12 & 144 years –

1 in 12 years Jupiter Brihaspati & Sun share a rashi combination – Jupiter is in Aquarius & Sun enters Aries. This is considered good as per astrological texts. Jupiter revolves around Sun in 12 earth years. 6 years is half of 12 & is called ardh kumbh. 144 is 12 x12 & is hence an important one.

Importance of the dip – 

It is believed that riverside Tirthas across the country absorb sins & sorrows of those who bathe in it. Tirthas from all over the country come to bathe at Prayag to release the burden of all people who have been offloading their sorrows & sins of self & dead ancestors.

Altar of this sacred place त्रिवेणी संगम is the river bank, not any temple. The dip in the water at sangam is the only reason one goes to Kumbh. Visits to temples & other places are secondary. The river bank & the water at the confluence is more important than the temples to many.

Sadhus (ascetics) who live in mountains, jungles, Akharas (group of ascetics co-habit) in the rest of the year, come down to take a dip at the confluence. While many of the sadhus usually stay away from localities, this is the time when they set up camps & stay here & interact with the common people. With the curiosity generated by social media, many urban folk like us (in greater numbers than before) have started going to the mela. Fear of missing out has led many to visit the mela this year.

The people visiting the mela get to experience

• Yogic performances by the ascetics
• Recitation / singing of religious texts
• Discourses on socio-religious issues, at times interactive, at times one on one discussions with sadhus
• People representing different schools of religious thought
• Meeting the sadhus

 

2. Where exactly does the mela happen? In the city? 

The mela is organized on the dry riverbed (that is now light coloured dry sand). The entire area of the mela fills up with water totally during the monsoons.

On top of the sand, comes up an ephemeral mega city (for 55 days) with roads, pontoon bridges, tents serving as residences and venues for spiritual discourses, social infrastructure such as temporary hospitals, public toilets, fire brigade, ambulances, dredgers to constantly clean the water from offerings that devotees are putting into the river, food stalls and medical clinics, as if it is an actual city. The city is completely dismantled after the mela.

 In 2013, a team from Harvard University, representing faculty from multiple disciplines, researched the large-scale event from its preparation to the actual celebration itself. This was a very comprehensive systematic study on the Mela as a City, from planning to execution, from inanimate aspects to human aspects. The team from Harvard published a very informative book on this topic through Niyogi publishers.

The visitors are classified into two – kalpavasis (कल्पवासी – those who stay for the full period of the mela, cook their own food, take bath at the confluence thrice a day, pray, listen to the talks by the sadhus, listen to the devotional music & also do austerities दान) & alpwasi (अल्पवासी- those who stay for a short period, like us).

We heard the real life account of someone whose family we met – The gentleman had just completed a full career as a senior Central Government Official. While in service he had a large team & did not need to do much work himself. He would do more planning, thinking, examining etc. At home he had a retinue of servants to look after his comforts. As the dates of Kumbh neared, he decided to do kalpawas. So he learnt & practiced cooking & doing everything on his own. On the designated day he went leaving everyone alone at home. He stayed there, cooked, washed, did all he was expected to do (listed above) & came home after 55 days, almost a new person.

3. What’s the mythological backstory of Kumbh 

Many purans tell us the story of the Churning of the ocean (Samudra manthan समुद्र मंथन). Both devatas & asurs jointly decided to churn the ocean to extract the riches hidden beneath the ocean & eventually share the bounty that  come. However when the Amrit (immortal nectar) came up, the devatas decided not to share with asurs. Different purans gave different versions after this. As per Skanda puran , after taking away the amrit from the asurs, the Devas were going back to swarglok (heaven). 4 drops of Amrit fell in 4 parts of the earth – those 4 are places where kumbh (kalash of Amrit) happens:

1. Haridwar ganga enters plains
2. Prayag triveni sangam
3. Nashik Godavari Maharashtra
4. Ujjain Kshipra river MP

As per many purans, 12 days of devatas = 12 years of humans. Samudra manthan happened for 12 days of devatas ‎ = 12 years of humans. Hence the 12 year cycle.

4. What’s the historical backstory of Kumbh 

Haridwar  had kumbh for a long time (more than 2 millennia). In 1870 the 12 year interval kumbh mela started in Prayag (in purans & epics there is mention of 12 year cycle kumbh in Haridwar but not necessarily at Prayag – search is still on to find such references in other texts). A mela named magh mela/ Triveni sangam mela however has been happening at Prayag, every year at the same time, from the Gupta period.

In 643CE the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang wrote about a long festival  at Prayag, in Magh month. He wrote about seeing the great King Harshavardhan (at the confluence), who started giving away everything he had brought with him, till he was left with nothing but a single piece of cloth to wrap himself & he went back.

5. Who are the dasnami Naga sanyasis & why do some of them carry arms. Why do we read about fights between Naga sadhus

In the CE600s (approx) adi Shankaracharya set up a monastic order & set up spiritual centers (मठ) in four corners of the country. The Naga sadhus follow this philosophy.

The Naga sadhus have ten orders & are hence called Dasnămi – Ten Names दसनामी

10 names form the suffixes to the names taken by the monks of these orders after their initiation (diksha) – Giri (hill), Puri ( city ), Bharli (learning), Ban (wood). Aranya (forest). Parbat ( mountain), Sagar (ocean). Tirtha (temple ) Ashram (hermitage), and Saraswati ( perfect knowledge ).

The four great maths of the Dasnami orders have, in the course of centuries, come to adopt certain definite rules of affiliation and organisation. A sannyasi must first of all enrol himself in a Marhi, which word may be roughly translated as a “recruiting or initiating centre” A math can take members belonging to one Marhi only, but all the 52 Marhis or any smaller number of them can become members of an Akhara.

There are 52 Marhis, which were originally thus distributed: under the Giris, 27-under thc Puris 16,—under this Bharatis 4,—under the Bans 4,—under the Lamas 1..

Of the ten names, the Tirthas, Ashramas and Saraswatis and half of the Bharatis are called Dandis, while the remaining six and a half groups are entitled to call themselves Gosains.

Here is a chart that classifies the sadhu order:

The naga sadhus follow a monotheistic faith of Upanishads, reinvigorated by Adi Shankaracharya – अद्वैत .

Initiation of a person to become a Naga Sadhu:

At the initiation ceremony to become a sadhu, a person has to severe all links with their pre- sadhu life – family, belongings, accomplishments, their hair, clothes – everything that they have & turn to the state in which they were born. At the initiation ceremony to be a sadhu, the person has to even do their own last rites श्राद्ध. The idea is  just to devote the rest of their life to the one & only ब्रह्म almighty. Naga sadhus  eat once a day, some continue to not wearing any clothes throughout their lives. Some other naga sadhus just wear a कौपीन (loincloth). Most of them live in the akharas (similar in concept to monastery, but often temporary structures in mountains & forests).

Naga Sadhus with arms

Some of the Naga sadhus have taken up arms, which might seem counter intuitive. Here is the History of sadhus taking up arms in an organized way (there were many individual exceptions before) –

In the medieval period there were instances in which sadhus were attacked by people from other faiths / beliefs. Oral history records mention one sadhu leader who went to meet emperor Akbar in presence of Birbal. The advice received by him at the meeting was to recruit ksatriyas & Vaishyas in the sadhus order & to train them in arms so that they are able to defend the monastic orders. Must mention here that once a person becomes a sadhu,, there is no jati / varna system (caste). The regular training of sadhus in warfare started from then.

In mid 1700s, there are many historical records of Naga sadhus participating in wars. A famous Naga sadhu who fought many battles was Anupgiri Gosain. Here is the fascinating story of Anupgiri Gosain (part folklore part history).

A boy was guarding a cave inside which his guru was in samadhi. A Visitor came & wanted to enter the cave. The boy blocked the visitor with all means. Impressed, the visitor (the guru’s guru) asked the boy for a boon. The boy said I want to be the king.

Eventually he became a warlord in Bundelkhand – Rajendragiri. One day he met a destitute widow who sold him her two children (there are other version to this folklore as well). One of them was Anupgiri.

Anupgiri gosain, became a Naga sadhu & he fought many battles with a team of adept warriors,

• He fought on the side of the Mughal emperor and the Afghans against the Marathas at Panipat in 1761;
• He was present with the Awadhi and Mughal forces against British forces at Buxar in 1764, and helped Shuja ud-Daula escape after his defeat;
• He was instrumental in the downfall of Bharatpur and the rise of Najaf Khan, the Persian adventurer, at Delhi in the 1770s;
• He engineered Mahadji Shinde’s foray into Delhi politics in the 1780s;
• He was the force behind Ali Bahadur’s conquest of Bundelkhand in the name of the peshwa in the 1790s.
• His last act, at the end of his life in 1803, was to enable the Maratha defeat at the hands of the British in Bundelkhand and the Doab and, thereby, the British capture of Delhi, an event that catapulted East india Company into the role of paramount power in southern Asia – and ultimately the world.

Watch Hindi movie Laal kaptaan to get a sense of Naga sadhus at war in the 1700s.

6. How was our experience 

• We took the Vande Bharat train to & fro from Delhi. Very happy with our experience. Every bit of it. Tried both the executive car (onway) & the chair car (on the way . The police ensured that the platform at Prayagraj only had passengers who had tickets of Vande Bharat Train. That ensured there was no pushing around while boarding the train, onway back from Prayagraj.
• We stayed at the Aagaman tent city. The tents were visually appealing, both from outside & one we were inside. The set u was very good. The blankets were good, clean. The washrooms in the tent had a WC, a bathing bay, a wash basin & a tray with all toiletries. We faced a plumbing problem, complained about it & was immediately taken care of. Buffet meals were on offer at the massive dining tents (looked like hotel dining rooms. Food was good. Not outstanding.

• The temporary tent Campus had a spa & a cafe as well. We had a good experience there.

• There was a beautiful handmade garment shop in the tent city

• On day 1 evening, Prof Dhananjay Chopra, (Allahabad university) an expert on Kumbh mela, came to speak to us. We were mesmerised with his incredible speaking skills & felt fulfilled with the content of his talk, that clearly demonstrated his depth of knowledge on the subject.
• The environment at Prayagraj city in general & mela ground in particular, was festive 24 hours. The city did not sleep.
• There was a multitude of sounds, a cocktail of Sounds through the day & throughout the night – Devotional songs / Chants / announcements on microphones, Siren, One person or group of people singing bhajans & waking past , Millions of people talking, sound of Water, Honking etc. etc.
• Villagers wore new garments (sarees & dhotis) – Ladies in particular wore Kora saree onway to take the dip.
• Among the villagers, we saw unbelievable ardour / determination – many of them were walking for kilometers barefoot on sand / metal plates – some with lower financial means (compulsion) & others walked as shoes are seen not apt in a place of devotion (by choice).

• I can’t forget an old lady walking with great difficulty, unable to finally walk, being helped into a ‘scooter on rent’ by her family.
• Bhooley bhatkey mahila ebang shishu shivir was constantly trying to unite lost friends & family.
• Many temporary Fire brigade stations were set up

• We saw many Ambulance stands & temporary hospitals, some including ICU

• At the sangam, multiple Dredgers were in action to clean up things that people were offering to the river (coconuts & other offerings).

• The dip happens at the confluence – Triveni sangam. One has to take a boat to reach there.
• It was mandatory for everyone to wear life jackets when in the boat. There were many water rescue teams in case of an emergency.

• People we interacted with were very nice to us – auto rickshaw, e-rickshaw, taxi drivers, people at the tent city – Nice sweet language of UP with genuine intention to be good to an outsider.
• Ground level police staff were also helpful whenever we spoke to them. Many of them looked very tired, yet enthusiastic.
• Traffic was in a mess (worst managed traffic I have ever seen in my entire life anywhere in the world). Focus was – STOP THE TRAFFIC if volume increases, No need to suggest alternatives as people would figure out a solution. It could be much better had the ground level police being informed of alternative routes. In many instances we were told ‘this road is shut’ but not told which road was open. Anyone who booked a tent in tent city need to be given a passage to get in & get out. That was totally missing. Roads to & fro the tent city were blocked randomly, without any alternative. We had to walk many kilometres with luggage to get in & get out of tent city. Many people missed their flights & trains. People sat in cars for hours.

• VIP movement was prioritised over normal people leading to half the road for a few people & the other half with a few thousand.
• Women’s washrooms  were extremely less in number & not on quick intervals. Men’s urinals were better spaced.

• For people who can’t walk 10-12 km, Public transport Solution was zero. It was on one’s luck to grab a rickshaw / auto & pay ₹1000-3000 for 2-4 km!!!

To conclude, did all these inconveniences deter us? The answer is no as we were in good health & had no expectations in our mind about good infrastructure. We went with the mind frame to walk from station to sangam & back if needed. So we returned happy & content with this experience.

You might want to read some scholarly books on this topic:

Pilgrimage & Power – Kama Maclean

Warrior ascetics & Indian Empires – William R Pinch

Kumbh Mela – mapping the ephemeral Megacity – Rahul M

A history of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis – Jadunath Sarkar