Kumbh Mela: At the River’s Edge

The festival serves as a site of a mass hindu pilgrimage of faith, where old and young travel the face of India to bathe in rivers thought to cleanse a person of all their sins. The festival is not only the ‘worlds largest congregation of religious pilgrims’, but also the largest peaceful gathering of people on the planet. It is estimated 120 million people visited the Alhallabad Kumbh Mela over a two month period. On the royal bathing day, the full moon of  the 4th February 2019, on the year that I went, a reported 50 million people came on that single day. The gathering is so vast it is visible from space. 

The Kumbh Mela is an awe-inspiring demonstration of simple piety and a clear example of the power of myth.The Mythology behind the Kumbh mela, comes from the Hindu Legend samudra manthan whereby the Devas (benevolent dieties) and Asuras (malevoolent demigods) made a temporary agreement to work together in obtaining Amrita, the nectar drink of immortality and then share it equally amongst each other. 

However, when the Amrita was eventually produced and placed in a Kumbhma (pot). The Devas, doubting the agreement with the Asuras became fearful of what would happen if they drank their share of the nectar. For 12 days and 12 nights (equivalent to twelve human years between the festival), the Deavas and Asuras fought in the sky for possession of the pot. 

In an endeavour to keep the nectar from falling into the hands of the Asuras, a divine carrier, Dhanavantari, flew away with the pot. Dhanavantari hid the nectar in four spots, Alhallabad, Hardiwar, Uijan and Nasik. It is said that at each of these spots a drop of immortal nectar spilled from the pot and landed on earth thereby acquiring to each of these places a mystic power.