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 Kumbh Mela, which
follow the Hindu calendar, are classified as:
• 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.
