Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a mass Hindupilgrimage of faith in which
Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred or holy river. Traditionally, four fairs are
widely recognized as the Kumbh Melas: the Prayag Kumbh Mela, Haridwar Kumbh Mela, the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha, and Ujjain Simhastha. These four fairs are held periodically at one of the following places
by rotation: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik district (Nashik and Trimbak), and Ujjain. The main festival site is located on the banks of a river: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar; the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati at Prayag; the Godavari at Nashik; and the Shipra at Ujjain. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse a person of
all their sins.
At any given place, the Kumbh Mela is held once in 12 years. There is a
difference of around 3 years between the Kumbh Melas at Haridwar and Nashik;
the fairs at Nashik and Ujjain are celebrated in the same year or one year
apart. The exact date is determined, as per Vikram Samvat calendar and the principles of Jyotisha, according to a combination of zodiac positions of the Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon. At Nashik and Ujjain,
the Mela may be held while a planet is in Leo (Simha in Hindu astrology); in this case, it is also known as
Simhastha. At Haridwar and Prayag, an Ardha ("Half") Kumbh Mela is
held every sixth year; a Maha ("Great") Kumbh Mela occurs after 144
years.
The priests at other places have also claimed their local fairs to be
Kumbh Melas. For example, the Mahamaham festival at Kumbakonam, held once in 12 years, is also portrayed as a Kumbh Mela.
The exact age of the festival is uncertain. According to medieval
Hinduism, Lord Vishnu dropped drops of Amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a kumbha (pot). These four places are identified as the present-day sites of the
Kumbh Mela. The name "Kumbh Mela" literally means "kumbha fair". It is known as "Kumbh" in Hindi (due to schwa deletion); in Sanskrit and some other Indian languages, it is more often known by its original
name "Kumbha".
The festival is one of the largest peaceful gatherings in the world, and considered as the
"world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims".There is no
precise method of ascertaining the number of pilgrims, and the estimates of the
number of pilgrims bathing on the most auspicious day may vary. An estimated
120 million people visited Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Prayag over a two-month period, including over 30 million on a single day, on
10 February 2013 (the day of Mauni Amavasya). It has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Kumbha Mela derives its name from both the original festival being held
according to the astrological sign "Kumbha" (Aquarius), and from the
associated Hindulegend in which the gods and demons fought over a pot, or “kumbh,” of nectar that would give them immortality. A later day addition to
the legend which says that after taking the pot one of the gods spilled drops
of nectar near four places where Kumbha Mela is presently held, is not found in
the earliest mentions of the original legend of samudra manthan (churning of the ocean) as described in various ancient Hindu texts collectively known as the Puranas (orig. 3rd century
CE to 10th century CE).
The legend of samudra manthan tells of a battle between the Devas (benevolent deities) and Asuras (malevolent demigods) for amrita, the nectar drink
of immortality. During samudra manthan, amrita was produced and placed in a
Kumbha (pot). To prevent the asuras from seizing the amrita, a divine carrier
flew away with the pot. In one of the most popular version added to the
original legend later, the carrier of the kumbha is the divine physician Dhanavantari, who stops at four places where the Kumbh Mela is celebrated. In other
later addition to the legend, the carrier is Garuda, Indra or Mohini, who spills the amrita at four places.
While several ancient texts, including the various Puranas, mention the
samudra manthan legend, none of them mentions spilling of the amrita at four
places. Neither do these texts mention the Kumbh Mela. Therefore, multiple
scholars, including R. B. Bhattacharya, D. P. Dubey and Kama Maclean believe
that the samudra manthan legend has been applied to the Kumbh Mela relatively
recently, in order to show scriptural authority for it.
Evolution
of earlier melas to Kumbh Melas:
There are several references to river-side mela (festivals) in ancient Indian texts including at the places where
present day Kumbh Melas are held, both the earliest exact age of those melas
and when they came to be called the Kumbh Mela is uncertain. Earliest mention
of any type of mela held at the current location of Kumb Mela is by Xuanzang in 644 CE. The earliest extant mention of the name "Kumbha
Mela" are Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (1695 CE) and Chahar Gulshan (1759 CE)
which describe the fairs held at Haridwar, Prayag and Nashik, among those the magh fair at Prayag might be oldest without being called Kumbh Mela at those
time and the fair at Haridwar appears to be the original Kumbh Mela which is
held according to the astrological sign "Kumbha" (Aquarius), and the renaming
of fairs held at other places to Kumbh Mela is more recent.
The earliest mention of the such riverside melas at the current
locations of Kumbh Mela, [without mentioning the word Kumbh mela], is by the
Chinese traveler Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) who describes a ritual organized by Emperor
Shiladitya(identified with Harsha) at the confluence of two rivers, in the kingdom of Po-lo-ye-kia
(identified with Prayaga), where half a million pilgrims of various faiths took
a bath at the confluence to wash away their sins. According to some scholars,
this is the earliest surviving historical account of a mela held at Prayag in
644 CE where the present day Kumbh Mela is also held. However, Australian
researcher Kama Maclean notes that the Xuanzang reference is about an event
that happened every 5 years (and not 12 years), and might have been a Buddhist
celebration (since, according to Xuanzang, Harsha was a Buddhist emperor).
The Kumbh Mela of Haridwar appears to be the original Kumbh Mela, since
it is held according to the astrological sign "Kumbha" (Aquarius), and because there
are several references to a 12-year cycle for it. The earliest extant texts
that contain the name "Kumbha Mela" are Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (1695 CE) and Chahar Gulshan (1759 CE). Both these texts use the term "Kumbh Mela" to
describe only Haridwar's fair, although they mention the similar fairs held in
Prayag and Nashik district. The Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh lists the following melas:
an annual mela and a Kumbh Mela every 12 years at Haridwar; a mela held at Trimbak when Jupiter enters Leo (that is, once in 12 years); and an annual mela
held at Prayag in Magh. The Magh Mela of Prayag is probably the oldest among these, dating
from the early centuries CE, and has been mentioned in several Puranas. However, its association with the Kumbha myth and the 12-year old
cycle is relatively recent, probably dating back to the mid-19th century. D. P.
Dubey notes that none of the ancient Hindu texts mention the Prayag fair as a
"Kumbh Mela". Kama Maclean states that even early British records do
not mention the name "Kumbh Mela" or the 12-year cycle for the Prayag
fair. The first British reference to the Kumbh Mela in Prayag occurs only in an
1868 report, which mentions the need for increased pilgrimage and sanitation
controls at the "Coomb fair" to be held in January 1870. According to
Maclean, the Prayagwal Brahmin priests of Prayag adapted their annual Magh Mela to Kumbh legend, in
order to increase the importance of their tirtha.
The Kumbh Mela at Ujjain began in the 18th century, when the Maratha ruler Ranoji Shinde invited ascetics from Nashik to Ujjain for a local festival. Like the
priests at Prayag, the pandits of Nashik and Ujjain, competing with other places for a sacred status,
may have adopted the Kumbh tradition for their pre-existing melas.
Role
of Akharas:
Haridwar Kumbh Mela by the English
painter J. M. W. Turner. Steel engraving, c. 1850s.
Akharas, which evolved into the fighting martial akharas likely as a
reaction to the harsh and brutal treatment of
Hindus by the Muslim Rulers, were recorded in
the medieval texts to be present at the Kumbh Mela. Akharas' act of
self-defence of turning into armed monasteries of mystics, also led to the
unintended consequence of their sectarian fights among themselves turning into
violent armed clashes with disastrous consequence including numerous deaths,
which stopped only after the British colonial rulers limited the warrior role
of the akharas. A common conception advocated by the akharas, that Adi Shankara started the Kumbh Mela at Prayag in 8th century to facilitate meeting of
holy men from different regions, has been doubted by the academics claim. Until
the East India Company rule, the Kumbh Melas
were managed by the akharas (sects) of religious ascetics known as the sadhus. They collected taxes, and also carried out policing and judicial
duties. The sadhus were heavily militarized, and also participated in trade.
The Melas were a scene of sectarian politics, which sometimes turned violent.
The Chahar Gulshan states that the local sanyasis at Haridwar attacked the fakirs of Prayag who came to attend the Kumbh Mela there. At the 1760 Kumbh
Mela in Haridwar, a clash broke out between ShaiviteGosains and Vaishnavite Bairagis (ascetics), resulting in hundreds of deaths, with Vaishnavite
forming most of the victims. A copper plate inscription of the MarathaPeshwa claims that 12,000 ascetics died in a clash between Shaivite sanyasis
and Vaishnavite bairagis at the 1789 Nashik Kumbh Mela. The dispute started
over the bathing order, which indicated status of the akharas. At the 1796
Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, the Shaivites attacked and injured the Udasis for erecting a camp without their permission. In response, the Khalsa Sikhs accompanying the Udasis killed around 500 Gosains; the Sikhs lost
around 20 men in the clash. The clashes subsided after the Company
administration severely limited the trader-warrior role of the sadhus, who were
increasingly reduced to begging.
Past
significance and impact:
Besides their religious significance, historically the Kumbh Melas were
also major commercial events. Baptist missionary John Chamberlain, who visited the 1824 Ardh Kumbh
Mela at Haridwar, stated that a large number of visitors came there for trade. He noted
that the fair was attended by "multitudes of every religious order",
including a large number of Sikhs. According to an 1858 account of the Haridwar Kumbh Mela by the British
civil servant Robert Montgomery Martin, the visitors at
the fair included people from a number of races and religions. Besides priests,
soldiers, and religious mendicants, the fair was attended by several merchants,
including horse traders from Bukhara, Kabul, Turkistan, Arabia and Persia. Several Hindu rajas, Sikh rulers and Muslim Nawabs visited the fair. A few Christian missionaries also preached at the
Mela.
The Kumbh Melas played an important role in spread of the cholera outbreaks and pandemics. According to The Imperial Gazetteer of India, an outbreak of cholera occurred at the 1892 Mela at Haridwar leading to the rapid improvement
of arrangements by the authorities and to the formation of Haridwar Improvement
Society. The British administrators made several attempts to improve the
sanitary conditions at the Melas, but thousands of people died of cholera at
these fairs until the mid-20th century.
Several stampedes have occurred at the Kumbh Melas. After an 1820 stampede at Haridwar
that killed 485 people, the Company government took extensive infrastructure
projects, including construction of new ghats and road widening, to prevent further stampedes. Since then Haridwar
has experienced fewer deaths in stampedes: the next big stampede occurred in
1986, when 50 people were killed. Prayag has also experienced major stampedes,
in 1840, 1906, 1954, 1986 and 2013. The deadliest of
these was the 1954 stampede, which left 800 people dead.
Rising attendance
and scale:
Maha Kumbh at Prayag is the largest in the world, the attendance and
scale of preparation of which keeps rising with each successive celebration.
For the 2019 Maha Kumbh at Prayag, the preparations include a ₹42,000 million (US$580 million or €510 million) temporary city
over 2,500 hectares with 122,000 temporary toilets and range of accommodation
from simple dormitory tents to 5-star tents, 800 special
trains by the Indian Railway, artificially intelligent video surveillance and analytics by IBM, disease surveillance, river transport management by Inland Waterways Authority of
India, and an app to help the
visitors.
In 1903, 400,000 pilgrims were recorded as attending the fair.
On 14 April 1998, 10 million pilgrims attended the Kumb Mela at Haridwar
on the busiest single day.
In 2001, 70 million pilgrims attended the 55 days long Kumbh Mela at
Prayag, including more than 40 million on the busiest single day.
In 2007, 70 million pilgrims attended the 45-day long Ardha Kumbh Mela
at Prayag.
In 2013, 120 million pilgrims attended the Kumbh Mela at Prayag.
Nasik has registered maximum visitors to 75 million.
Types of
Kumbh Melas:
·
The
Maha Kumbh occurs after 12 Purna Kumbh Melas i.e. every 144 years.
· The
Kumbh Mela (sometimes specifically called Purna Kumbh or "full
Kumbha"), occurs every 12 years at a given site. Kumbh Mela at Prayag is
celebrated approximately 3 years after Kumbh at Haridwar and 3 years before
Kumbh at Nashik and Ujjain (both of which are celebrated in the same year or
one year apart).
· Ardh
Kumbh ("Half Kumbh") Mela occurs every 6 years between the two Purna
Kumbha Melas at Prayag and Haridwar.
Locations:
Numerous sites and fairs lay claim to be the Kumbh Melas, among these
the following four sites are traditionally considered most recognized as Kumbh
Melas: Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Trimbak-Nashik and Ujjain. The Kumbh Mela
in the Nashik district was originally held at Trimbak, but after a 1789 clash between Vaishnavites and Saivites over precedence of bathing, the MarathaPeshwa shifted the Vaishnavites' bathing place to Ramkund in Nashik city. The Shaivites continue to regard Trimbak as the proper location.
Priests at other places have also attempted to boost the status of their
tirtha by adapting the
Kumbh legends, examples of these claims include Varanasi, Vrindavan, Tirumakudal Narsipur, Kumbhakonam (Mahamaham), Rajim (Rajim Kumbh) and even Tibet.
Bathing
processions:
Kumbh Mela is the most sacred of all the pilgrimages. Thousands of holy
men and women attend, and the auspiciousness of the festival is in part
attributable to this.
One of the major events of Kumbh Mela is the Peshwai Procession, which marks the
arrival of the members of an akhara or sect of sadhus at the Kumbh Mela. The
order of entering the water for bathing is fixed, with the Juna, the Niranjani and Mahanirvani akharas preceding.
The major event of the festival is ritual bathing at the banks of
the river in whichever town Kumbh Mela being held: Ganga in Haridwar, Godavari in Nasik, Kshipra in Ujjain and Sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati) in Allahabad (Prayag).
Feasts,
festivities and food for thoughts:
Other activities at the mela include religious discussions (pravachan), devotional singing (kirtan), mass feeding (mahaparasada) of holy men and women and the poor, and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardised (shastrartha). The sadhus are seen clad in saffron sheets with Vibhuti ashes dabbed on their skin as per the requirements of ancient
traditions. Some, called naga sanyasis, may not wear any clothes even in severe winter. The right to be naga,
or naked, is considered a sign of separation from the material world.
Darshan:
Darshan, or respectful visual exchange, is an important part of the
Kumbh Mela. People make the pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela specifically to
observe and experience both the religious and secular aspects of the event. Two
major groups that participate in the Kumbh Mela include the Sadhus (Hindu holy
men) and pilgrims. Through their continual yogic practices the Sadhus
articulate the transitory aspect of life. Sadhus travel to the Kumbh Mela to
make themselves available to much of the Hindu public. This allows members of
the Hindu public to interact with the Sadhus and to take "darshan."
They are able to "seek instruction or advice in their spiritual
lives." Darshan focuses on the visual exchange, where there is interaction
with a religious deity and the worshiper is able to visually "'drink'
divine power." The Kumbh Mela is arranged in camps that give Hindu
worshipers access to the Sadhus. The darshan is important to the experience of
the Kumbh Mela and because of this worshipers must be careful so as to not
displease religious deities. Seeing of the Sadhus is carefully managed and
worshipers often leave tokens at their feet.
