Kumbh Mela – The Most Wonderful Sight in India?

Kumbh Mela - The Most Wonderful Sight in India?

by Daniel Ratheiser, Managing Director – Knowledge Must

“What is the most wonderful sight in India – the strangest thing to be seen in all this land, where so much
is strange? For my part, I am inclined to doubt whether anything can be witnessed more impressive and
picturesque, more pregnant, too, with meaning and significance, than the Kumbh Mela, or great Pilgrim
Fair, which is held, once every twelve years, where the waters of the Ganges and Jumna meet, below
the wall of Allahabad. Until you have look upon one of these tremendous gatherings of humanity many
aspects of Indian life and character must be hidden from you.”

- Sydney Low during the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India (1906)

The Kumbh Mela is held in rotation among four holy places: Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. In
2010, the Kumbh Mela returned to Haridwar, where millions and millions of pilgrims come to participate.
The Kumbh Mela draws an incredible spectrum of humanity: yogis from the Himalayas and Sikhs from
the Punjab, peasants and businessmen, sannyasis and politicians. In Haridwar, the riverside steps at Har
Ki Pauri, where Vishnu left his footprint and the Ganges leaves the Himalayas, provides the setting for
the Mela.

Kumbh is an ancient term that is already mentioned in the Vedas, where it refers to a pitcher or vase full
of water. The Kumbh is a recurring image on temples, coins, and seals, and is evident on items
recovered from the civilisation of the Indus valley. Generally, a Kumbh is used as a symbol of fertility. In
ancient river festivals, a Kumbh full of grains was soaked in the waters of a holy river and its contents
then put to seed during sowing time.

Kumbh in the Epics (i.e., the Mahabharata and the Ramayana) and the Puranas refers to the legend of
the pot of Amrit (nectar of immortality) that arose from the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The Devas
(gods) and Asuras (demons) decided to churn the ocean in order to extract its bounty. The biggest prize
was Amrit, which both groups sought in order to become immortal. When they managed to churn the
ocean, Dhanvantari, the divine healer, emerged with the Kumbh of Amrit. A fight broke out between the
Devas and the Asuras over who would get the Kumbh. After a vicious fight, portrayed in many different
incarnations in the various Puranas and Epics, the Devas finally defeated the Asuras.

“The tale is great, one may say enormous. Every twelfth year is held to be a year of peculiar grace; a
greatly augmented volume of pilgrims results then. The twelfth year has held this distinction since the
remotest of times, it is said.”

- Mark Twain during his travels in India at the end of the nineteenth century

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 Kumbh Mela – The Most Wonderful Sight in India?

Pilgrimage to sacred places is a very ancient practice found almost universally across the world’s religions.
But pilgrimage also has an inner path next to the outer path of journeying to a sacred place. Pilgrimage
includes the internal voyage to one’s own religion. In the beginning, the performance of Yajnya (sacrificial
ritual) was dominating in Hindu religions. Over time, the resource-intensiveness of sacrifices and the
exclusion of large parts of the population from performing Yajnya led to the development of substitutes.
One expression of this development is the institution of pilgrimage.

Places of pilgrimage in India are referred to as Tirthas, which is derived from the Sanskrit verb “Tr”,
meaning to cross. The term Tirtha occurs eight times in the Rig Vega, all of them associating it with
water. In time, the term Tirtha was used more and more exclusively for river banks or confluences of
rivers sanctified by the performance of sacrifices and the revelation of mantras.

The formation of Hindu places of pilgrimage was largely shaped through important ritual sacrifices that
were performed at a specific location. Because these places were generally next to sources of water
(rivers, lakes and the sea), they became the major locations of pilgrimage centres, and remain so today
(e.g., Puri, Gaya, Haridwar, and Varanasi). The prominence of water is derived from its many qualities:
water is frequently used in sacrifices, is the primeval source of creation, symbolises the flow of life, and is
required for purification rituals.

The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore offers a similar rationale behind the locations of Indian pilgrimage
places: “India chose her places of pilgrimage where there was in nature some special grandeur or beauty,
so that her mind could come out of its world of narrow necessities and realize its place in the infinite.”

Further, Tirthayatra (pilgrimage) offers the opportunity to leave the historically and socially structured time
of one’s day-to-day life and enter the sacred mythological time of the gods. Even untouchables and
widows, who otherwise are generally excluded from most religious rituals, can participate, thus allowing
them to break out of the rigid structures of their local communities. At Tirthas, a sacred re-enactment of
myths takes place according to the religious beliefs of Hindus. Pilgrims walk on the same ground on
which deities and the heroes of the Epics strolled. A whole cosmic event recurs with the pilgrims as
participants.

“Although Hinduism does not make pilgrimage obligatory, yet the ordinary Hindu attribute great
importance to tirth-yatra where they resort to a host of merit-earning activities like taking a holy dip,
darshan (respectful sight of devotion and surrender) of deities, temples, and ascetics, performing worship,
listening to religious discourses, hymns and devotional songs in praise of deity, doing charity to Brahman,
beggar and ascetics – all these believed [are] believed to earn punya for an individual thereby advancing
him to the ultimate goal of moksh.” ("The Tradition of Kumbh", Das and Singh, 1990)

“The Fair (…) is run by associations of ascetics, who have their branches all over India. They assume the
fakir dress, or want of dress, and go about publicly in rags, with matted hair, their faces and bodies
daubed in river clay. Some of them wear no clothes at all, and are regarded on this account with peculiar
reverence.”

- Sydney Low during the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India (1906)

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 Kumbh Mela – The Most Wonderful Sight in India?

Around the eighth century CE, Advaita Vedanta-proponent Adi Shankarachrya is believed to have
established four Mathas (Hindu monastic establishments) in North, South, East, and West India. These
four Mathas later started their own Akharas (gymnastic centres) to train their ascetics in the martial arts.
Frequent assertions are made that the first Akharas came into being already during the first millennium
CE.

Alternatively, theories abound that the Akharas were founded to defend Hindu temples from the Muslim
invaders at the beginning of the second millennium CE. By Mughal Emperor Akbar’s time, there were
large numbers of armed ascetics all over India. They did not only come from the Hindu religion. A great
many of them were also Muslim ascetics.

During the time of Mughal decline in India, orders of military ascetics became significant players in the
quest for power. Some orders had more than 10,000 warriors under their command. They used state-of-
the-art weaponry, including musketry and artillery, as well as horses, camels, and elephants. The most
famous fighting ascetic Umrao Giri (alias Himmat Bahadur) even ruled his own small kingdom from 1790
to 1802. The Kumbh Melas served as the staging ground for the mobilization, recruitment, and
mercenary employment for the Akharas.

These orders of ascetics were not only mercenaries but were also successful traders. During their annual
pilgrimage cycle, they could transport goods freely because of their sacred status. They focused on small,
but highly valuable goods in order to maximise their profits. Remnants of this trade can still be found
today. Many members of these orders trade in crystals, beads, and hashish.

Militant ascetics made use of their Akharas as banking, marketing, and information networks. In times of
conflict, Akharas also served as safe-havens. By 1750, the Shaiva Akharas were the largest property
owners in many pilgrimage centres. They were engaged in money lending and used their military
apparatus to enforce the repayment of loans.

In contrast to the Shaiva Akharas, the historical reason for the emergence of the Vaishnava Bairagi
(dispatched or dispassionate) Akharas can be traced. Bairagi Akharas were created as a reaction to the
militant Shaiva Akharas, who were intimidating religious pilgrims, attacking Hindu pilgrimage places, and
trying to seize economic control over holy centres.

The rivalries between Vaishnava and Shaiva ascetics were not only based on ideological or religious
differences, but also from their historical interactions. They usually fought on opposing sides when hired
as mercenaries and struggled for control over important religious centres, since these brought prestige,
bases of power, and continuous flows of revenue.

Even today, Vaishnava and Shaiva ascetics camp separately during Kumbh Melas and rarely associate
with each other. But, remarkably enough, the Kumbh Mela is one of the very few pilgrimages, where the
sectarian itineraries of Sadhus intersect. Strikingly, besides the Vaishnava and Shaiva orders, orders of
ascetics that are often considered not to belong to the Hindu religion play a very prominent role in the
Kumbh Mela. The Udasis think of the holy book of the Sikh religion, the Granth Sahib, as a very
important part of their tradition. The Nirmalas go even further in their syncretism. They proclaim in their

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 Kumbh Mela – The Most Wonderful Sight in India?

prayers that the Puranas and the Quran are one and emphasise the identity of (Hindu deity) Rama and
Rahim (one of the 99 names of Allah in Islam).

When the various religious orders, especially the Akharas, arrive in the townships that are erected for
each Kumbh Mela, they enter in pompous parades called Peshvais (receptions). The monastic heads are
adorned like royalty in these parades. They are carried in palanquins or ride on elephants, and wear fine
robes and ornate headgear during the Peshvais. Brass bands and traditional musicians accompany them.
The faithful line the roadsides to receive their Darshan. The Kumbh Mela is the only place where the
Akharas still show the splendor with which they used to travel around the major pilgrimage centres in
former times.

During the Kumbh Mela, Sadhus who have not seen each other for years meet again. The brotherhood
among groups is reinforced and decisions about promotions and rank are taken. Moreover, each Akhara
forms an assembly called the Shambu Panch, in reality, the collective of all assembled members, who
elect a lead council of eight Mahants (great leaders). This lead council, called the Shri Panch, controls
the affairs of the Akhara by unanimous decisions. The Kumbh Mela is not only a time for coordination
within but also between the various religious orders. During religious discussions and conferences,
conflicts between the religious orders are solved.

The climax of the Kumbh Mela is the procession of Sadhus leading to the particular bathing sites along
the rivers. On the three main bathing dates, the Akharas lead the procession for the Snan (bath), which is
then called Shahi (royal) Snan. Interestingly, the Persian, Muslim name for "king" was chosen and not the
Hindu variant, Raja. Leading each Akhara regiment in the procession are long spears that are worshipped
by the Akhara as their Ishta (gods). The Ishta are bathed first in ceremonial prayer and only thereafter,
will the Sadhus enter the water.

The whole atmosphere of the Kumbh Mela is surcharged with religious zeal. There is a powerful impact
when millions of people come together to engage in the collective bathing ritual. Thus a sense of
brotherhood among Hindus develops, despite the different sectarian backgrounds, ethnicities, and
languages present during the festival.

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