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Worlds Largest Act of FaithGlimpses of Mahakumbh Mela in Haridwar-2010
ATMASHRADDHA
The author is monk of the Ramakrishna Order.
On the Banks of the Ganges
Says the BBC documentary on Ganga,
No where else on earth are the natural and
spiritual worlds so intertwined as in India. This
is the place where fire and air, animals and trees,
mountains and rivers are revered as Gods. Oneof the most powerful of these natural deities is
the river Ganges. She is a water Goddess, who
blesses the many faces of northern India, in a
thousand different ways. For millennia she has
brought shape and life to a parched land, and
provided sustenance for body and soul, to the
countless millions who have lived and wor-
shipped along her banks. All around her, the
great cycles of birth, death and rebirth are
endlessly played out. And flowing through these
natural and spiritual worlds is the Ganges,
Indias river of life.1
No where, again, in the recent past, could
this interplay of the human and divine facets
of Ganges be seen and felt more palpably andmagnificently than in the just concluded Maha-
kumbh Mela held once in twelve years in
Haridwar. Ganges, the river Goddess, was
adored in a thousand wonderful ways for
more than three monthsfrom 14thJanuary
(Makar Sankranti) to 28th April (Chaitra Purni-
ma, also called Vaishakh Adhimas Purnima)
2010. Millions of peopledevotees, sadhus,
Pilgrims taking a holy dip in Brahma-kund
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sannyasins, common pilgrims, visitorstravel-
led to Haridwar these three and half months,
bathed in Ganga Mai, as She is lovingly
called, prayed standing in or near Her waters,
offering flowers and lamps on it, leavingbehind a holy trail of devotion, consecration
and faith. And this has been going on for
centuriesnay, since time immemorial.
To someone who has never taken part in
the Kumbh Mela, a series of questions rise up
in his mind, struggling for a response. Some
of these questions could be: What is a Maha-
kumbh Mela? Why is it held? When, where
and how long is it held? What happens there?
And what do people do there?
Though one can put together all the facts,
it is not easy to communicate the Kumbh-
experience. While one might attempt some
descriptive, somewhat plausible and logical
answers, one gets the real answer only by
experiencing the Mahakumbh Mela in person.
Experience has no substitute. Only through a
direct, personal experience can one get aglimpse of the sanctity and magnificence of
the Kumbh Mela.
Understanding Kumbh Mela
In his foreword to the bookKumbh Mela
and the SadhusThe Quest for Immortality ,
Christopher N Burchett writes:
Kumbh is the oldest religious gathering known
to man. Even looking into the deepest depths of
ancient history, it is almost impossible to pin adate on the exact origin of this huge gathering
of religious heads. Not only was this gathering
attended by holy men of all castes and creeds
Pilgrims walking on make-shift and permanent bridges near Hari-ki-pauri during Kumbh Mela-2010
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but by kings and nobility not to speak of the
public at large too who made it a focus of
pilgrimage.
Another fact that we have to realize is that this
gathering was essentially a gathering of religious
personages who came together to discuss points
of theology and philosophy with each other. It
may be said that it was treated as a parliament
or forum of religion where differences of belief
and practice could be rationalized. There are
many references to this gathering not only in
historical records but also in the Mythology of
the Hindu world, the most consistent being the
references to the churning of the ocean in search
of the nectar hidden within. The subsequent
chase and conflict between the Gods and theDemons for possession of the nectar and for the
places where the pot or Kumbh containing the
nectar of immortality was spilt indicate the
locations of the Kumbh gatherings.2
Kumbh Mela is not a temple festival, nor
do the pilgrims come to Kumbh for darshan
of a particular deity (as is the case with most
pilgrimage centres). Kumbh celebrates a hoary
belief in the sanctity of Ganges and a bath in
her sacred waters. Millions come to take bath
in the sacred river Ganges.
In Kumbh, it is said, one does snan (bath),
dhyan (meditation), japa (repetition of Gods
name), upavasa (fasting), seva (service), puja
(worship), bhajan (singing of bhajans), kirtan
(group singing), pravachan-shravan (listening to
religious discourses), and sadhu darshan (meet-
ing holy men). The whole of Kumbh area
reverberates with spiritual and religious
fervour. And rightly has it been called the
largest religious gathering on earth. It is a
veritable sea of human beings.
The Legend
There are many stories in the Hindu
scriptures about Kumbh of which the follow-
ing is the most popular and accepted. Called
the Samudra Manthan episode (churning of
the ocean of milk), it is mentioned in the
Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, the Maha-
bharata, and the Ramayana with some minor
variations in details.Once both the sons of sage Kashyapa,
devas or devtas or suras (gods) and asuras or
daityas (demons), in order to regain their lost
strength, decided to churn (manthana) the great
ocean called Ocean of Milk (kshir sagara).
Though arch enemies, they decided to bury
their differences temporarily and jointly ex-
plore all the secrets that lie hidden in the divine
ocean ofkshir sagara.
UsingMandarachal Parvata (the great
mountain called Mandarachal) as a churning
rod, they requested the mighty snake Vasuki
to be the rope, with asuras on the head-side
and devas on the tail-side. Lord Vishnu tookthe form a tortoise (kachchhapa avatar) and held
the load of Mandrachal Parvata on his strong
back. This mega-churning by two mighty
forces went on for years. In the process, it gave
rise to several precious objects such as the
celestial cow (kamadhenu), Goddess Lakshmi,
A traditional painting of Samudra Manthana
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kalpa vriksha (the wish-fulfilling tree), and so
on. The churning also brought to surface the
deadly poison called the halahala, or kala-koota
visha. At the request of devas and asuras, Lord
Shiva drank the poison and held it to histhroat. This turned Shivas throat blue and he
thus came to be known as Neelakantha, the
Blue Throated One.
Finally, after churning the ocean for very
many years, emerged the God of Health,
Dhanwantari, holding the Kumbh (pitcher)
containing the amrita, immortality elixir. Soon,
a furious fight broke out between devas and
asuras to possess the Kumbh containing the
amrita. At the behest of his father, Indra, the
king of the gods, his son, Jayanta, wrested the
pitcher. In order to keep it safely, he ran
around the whole world, chased by demons
for twelve days during which he rested at
twelve spots.
As Jayanta ran, a few drops of amrita
spilled out from the Kumbh at those four
places in the earth and at eight other places in
heaven and nether world. The four places
where he stopped on this earth are: Haridwar,
Nasik, Ujjain and Prayagalong the sacredrivers Ganga, Shipra, Godavari and at the
confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and
Saraswati respectively.
Another version of the legend has it that
the devas and asuras fought for the ownership
of the amrit-kumbh when Lord Vishnu flew
away with the Kumbh of amrita spilling drops
of amrita at the four places mentioned above.
The period of twelve days for the gods
equals twelve years in human time; hence theKumbh Parva happens in successive twelve
years. The places where the nectar spilt became
centres of pilgrimage where the Kumbh Parva
is observed. Traditional belief about the
spiritual and religious significance of Kumbh
at Haridwar is:
Hw$^`moJo h[amao V ZmZoZ `\$b_&
Zmd_oYghgoU V\$b b^Vo w{d&&
By a ceremonial bath in holy Ganga at Haridwar
during Kumbha one accrues merit greater than
that of performing a thousand horse sacrifices.
Kumbh Parva
Kumbha, in Sanskrit, means a pitcher
(especially a roundish pot with no handle),
sometimes referred to as the kalasha. It is also
a zodiac sign in Indian astrology for Aquarius,
the sign under which the festival is celebrated,
while Mela means a gathering or a meet, or
simply a fair. Originally it was called only as
a parva or festival.
The Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place
at four places (Prayag/Allahabad, Haridwar,
Ujjain, and Nashik) every twelve years, while
the Ardh Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six
years at Haridwar and Prayag.
The Maha-Kumbh Mela (Great Kumbh
Mela) comes after 12 Purna Kumbh Melas
which is after every 144 years. It is celebrated
at different locations depending on the position
of the planet Brihaspati (Jupiter) and the Sun.When Jupiter and the Sun are in the zodiac
sign Leo (simha rashi), it is held in Nashik;
when the Sun is in Aries (mesha rashi), it is
celebrated at Haridwar; when Jupiter is in
Taurus (vrishabha rashi) and the Sun is in
Capricorn (makara rashi), Kumbh Mela is
celebrated at Prayag; and when Jupiter and
the Sun are in Scorpio (vrishchika rashi), the
Mela is celebrated at Ujjain. Each sites Kumbh
dates are calculated in advance according to aspecial alignment of zodiacal positions of Sun,
Moon, and Jupiter.
Historicity
The Kumbh is very, very ancient. The
word Kumbh itself finds references in the
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Vedas. Etymologically, Kumbh means that
which bestows auspiciousness on earth, and
much contentment (Hw$ ndr_, C`{V nya`{V _Jbg_mZm{XX{^[a{V Hw$^).
A verse in the Rig Veda, with an obviousreference to Kumbh Parva, says:
OKmZ d d{Y{VdZod amoO nwam o AaX {gYyZ &
{~^oX {J[a Zd{_fi Hw$^ _m Jm Bmo H$Uw d wp^&&
Just as a sharp edged axe cuts a log of wood,
similarly merit accrued through the observance
of Kumbha washes off demerits accumulated
through eons.3
The first recorded evidence of the Kumbh
Mela can be found in the accounts of Chinese
traveller, Huan Tsang or Xuanzang (602-664A.D.) who visited India in 629-645 CE, during
the reign of King Harshavardhana. He is
recorded to have said,
I have seen the huge crowd of people having a
holy dip at Haridwar in order to wash off their
sins.
Another reference is to be found in The
Imperial Gazetteer of India, which speaks of an
outbreak of cholera in 1892 Mela at Haridwar
leading to the rapid improvement of arrange-
ments by the authorities and to the formationof Haridwar Improvement Society. In 1903
about 4,00,000 people were recorded as
attending the fair. Ten million people gathered
at Haridwar for the Kumbh on April 14, 1998.
Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime
Minister of free India, in his book the Discovery
of India states, . . .even at that [ancient] time,
those Melas were considered to be much older
and it can not be said when they began. . .
HaridwarA Centre of Pilgrimage
An abode of Ashramas, Maths, Akhadas,
temples and seats of Vedanta learning (peethas),
Haridwar is located on the banks of Ganga. A
hallowed and ancient centre of pilgrimage,
Haridwar was originally called Mayapuri
A bathing ghat on the Ganga Canalacross Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal
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the abode of the Goddess Mayadevi. The
temple of Mayadevi, one of the shaktipithas, is
located in the heart of the Haridwar town. The
Juna Akhada is built around the temple now.
Haridwar is considered one of the seven citiesgiving moksha (mokshapuris). Originally
known as Gangadwar (Gateway to Ganga
to indicate that Ganga descends from moun-
tains here), it is also called Haridwar (Gate-
way to the temple of HariBadrinath
located in the Himalayas) and Haradwar
(Gateway to the temple of Hara or Shiva
Kedarnathin the Himalayas).
Hari-ki-pauri (the steps of the Lord
Hari) or Brahma-kunda is the most sacred
place for taking a holy dip in the Ganga. It is
believed that the first concrete ghat at Hari-ki-
pauri was constructed by the king Vikra-
maditya. There are a number of temples
dedicated to Mother Ganga, Lord Vishnu and
other gods and goddesses in the Hari-ki-pauri
area. Important temples in Haridwar include
hill temples of Manasa Devi and Chandi Devi,
Bilvakeshwar Shiva temple, Sapta Rishi Ash-
rama, besides hundreds of other Ashramas,
Maths, and places of worship.Ganga enters the plains at Haridwar,
flowing silent but with great speed, with ice-
chill waters melting from the Himalayan
glaciers. It divides into several big and
small streams at Haridwar. The main
stream goes along the Hari-ki-pauri, and
after travelling some four kilometres, it joins
another stream of Ganga and flows into the
400 km long Ganga Canal towards Kanpur
where it rejoins the mainstream. This morethan century and a half old canal, cons-
tructed during the British reign, is the
lifeline of hundreds of villages and towns
in the northern belt.
On the western side of the Ganga
canal is located Kankhal. Haridwar and
Kankhal are twin centres of pilgrimage held
in great sanctity. Kankhal (literately where
even a wicked person becomes noble) is
believed to be the place where the Daksha
Prajapati held a mighty Yajna in ancient times.As Shiva, Dakshas son-in-law, was not
extended an invitation, Divine Mother as Sati
sacrificed herself in the burning fire of the
Yajna. Later Shiva salvaged her body from the
fire and scattered it all over the land. The fifty
one places where parts of Divine Mothers
body fell are located in various parts of India
(some are now in Pakistan and Bangladesh)
and are called shakti-pithas (seats of Divine
Power) and are held in great reverence. The
Daksha Prajapati Mandir, the place where
Daksha is believed to have conducted the
Yajna, is located on the banks of one of the
streams of Ganga in Kankhal.
In Kankhal is also located Ramakrishna
Mission Sevasharma. Started in 1901, it is situa-
ted on the Delhi-Haridwar National Highway,
along the Ganga Canal. The Sevashrama
maintains a modern hospital with 150 beds.
All monks, irrespective of the sampradayas are
sects they belong to, are given free medicaltreatment here and the treatment to the general
patients is provided at nominal charges. A
The shrine of Mayadevi Mandir, Haridwar
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beautiful temple of Sri Ramakrishna is located
at the centre of the Ashrama. A bathing ghat
named Vivekananda Ghat on the Ganga Canal
makes the presence of Swamiji palpably felt.
There are numerous bathing ghats,temples and ashramas along the banks of
Ganga. On various ghats one sees thousands
of devotees taking a holy dip in the Ganga all
through. As the evening descends, hundreds
of devotees, standing on Ganga banks, wave
the arati, with the sound of cymbals and bells
accompanying them. The main arati, of course,
takes place on the Hari-ki-pauri, while nume-
rous other aratis are performed along the
Ganga banks. Devotees join the aratis bysinging bhajans, or leave on the sweet Ganga
waters small earthen lamps, lit with ghee/oil,
and flowers strewn around it, placed on large
leaves. Wobbling up and down on the sacred
waters of Ganga, these floating-aratis travel
some distance and then get merged in the
wavy holy waters that they adore. Along with
the dimming sounds of bells and cymbals, the
fragrance of the agarbatis too slowly wafts
along the river banks, leaving behind the
lingering memory of a divine experience.
There are numerous shops selling reli-
gious books, sweets, CDs, precious stones from
Himalayan regions, and all else which a
pilgrim may like to have. Beggars and un-
scrupulous elements too carry on their brisk
business. A whole economy runs on pilgri-
mage!
A Note on Hindu Monastic Institutions
In order to fully appreciate the KumbhParva, one should understand the various
monastic institutions which play a vital role
in Kumbh.
The institution of sannyasa is as old as
civilization. One finds references to it in the
Upanishads and in the Puranas. The Vedic
sannyasa tradition, however, is believed to
have been organized into Dashanami Sampra-
daya (literally tradition of ten names) by Adi
Shankara in the 8th century AD. These tennames are the names which are added to the
sannyasa name of the sannyasins, indicating a
particular sampradaya, with specifications
regarding the mahavakya, Upanishad, devata
and so on. These names are Saraswati, Tirtha,
Aranya, Bharati, Ashrama, Giri, Parvata,
Ganga arati at Hari-ki-pauri
A floating aratiall set for its sacred journey
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Sagara,Vana and Puri. These ten sects or names
come under the Maths started by Shankara-
charya. While the dashanami monks follow
their spiritual practices and traditions laid
down by Sri Adi Shankara, there are someother traditions which are partly or fully
independent in their beliefs and practices.
One of the major sampradayas is that of
Naga sadhus or the naked monks. In all
Kumbh Melas Naga Sadhus occupy a place of
privilegeand curious attraction. The Naga
(possibly a degeneration of the term nagna or
nanga, naked) monks as such are quite old.
Alexander the Great (353-323 B.C.) refers to
have met somegymnosophists (naked philoso-
phers) during his exploits in India. The last
Tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavir, also belonged
to this type. Epics contain names of Rishabha-
deva, Shukadeva and Avadhutas under this
group. This nakedness is a symbol of extreme
renunciation and is not looked down upon as
obscene, but as an act of utter non-concern
about this transient world. Even a piece of
cloth is considered as a nuisance.
As to the origin of Naga sadhus, the
name of Madhusudana Sarasvati, a great
scholar-saint of 15th century India, is invariably
associated. The following would throw some
light on the subject:
Madhusudana stayed for several decades at
Gopala Matha on the Chatuhshasthi Ghat
(popularly known as the Chaushasthi Yogini
Ghat) in Benares. A historically important event
at Benares in those days has been recorded by
Prof. J.N. Farquhar: One of the notorious
practices of the Muslim priests, as good
Muslims, was to frequently attack and kill the
Hindus, lay and monastic, especially at pilgrim
centres such as Benares. Those priests were
protected by a faulty law that exempted them
from any legal punishment! So the hapless
Hindus approached Madhusudana to do some-
thing to stop this injustice. Since he was well
known at the durbar of Emperor Akbar (who
ruled between AD 1556-1605), he met the
Emperor through Raja Birbal and narrated to
him the religious atrocities at Benares, etc. As a
solution, the Emperor suggested that Madhu-
sudana should organize a militant band of
sannyasins to defend Hinduism and its followers.
At the same time he promulgated a law that
thenceforth the Hindu sannyasins too, like the
Muslim priests, were outside the purview of
legal action. Thus was born at the hands of
Madhusudana the much respected, and feared,
Naga sect of Vedantic sannyasins. The recruits
into it were mostly from the Kshatriya caste.
They lived in monasteries called akhadas (literallygymnasiums) and were trained in the martial
arts.4
About the Nagas attire, or rather lack of
it, some people explain it, as an imitation of
the Lord Shiva who is believed to barely cover
his body. Their state of nakedness is symbolic
of transparency and purity of mind, freed from
A naga sadhu (Juna Akhara)
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all lower and baser instincts such as lust, greed,
jealousy, and so on. It is symbolic of the state
of mind of a five-year old child.
According to one source, among sannya-
sins there are two types: shastradhari andshaastradhari. The former (shastradhari, armed
with shastra or weapons) learnt and mastered,
besides wrestling, the use of swords, sticks
and other simple forms of arms for the protec-
tion of Hindus and live in akhada. Each
akhada has its own deity, lineage of preceptors,
branch of the Veda they adhere to, and so on.
During the medieval times, the shastra-
dhari naga sadhus fought for the protection
of Hindus from the attack of religious fanatics
and forceful conversions. These akhadas have
fought many times for the protection of sacred
places and temples of Hindus. For instance, in
1666, they fought for the protection of
Haridwar; in 1745, against Ahmad Shah
Abdali for the protection of Prayag (Allaha-
bad); in 1757 for Gokul near Mathura. And
Kumbh became an occasion for extending
invitation to unite for the cause of their
religion. Presently the Naga Sadhus, however,
remain in the ambit of non-violence, thoughsome of them practice the sport of wrestling.
Normally eight dashanami akhada are
listed: Ahvan, Agni, Anand, Atal, Gudad, Juna,
Niranjani and Nirvani; Juna, Niranjani,
Nirvani are principal akhadas.
The other groupshaastradhari (the one
holding on to the shaastra or scripture) kept
up the tradition of scriptural studies. They
conducted scriptural classes and discourses for
the benefit of their followers and generalpublic by moving from place to place. This
group was called mandali. The head of a
mandali is called a Mandalishwar or Mandal-
eshwar.5 A Mahamandaleshwar means a great
spiritual leader.
Another monastic tradition which should
be mentioned is the Udasi tradition. Started
by Sri Chand (1494-1643), son of Guru Nanak
Dev, the founder and the first Guru of Sikhism,
the Udasis follow both the Hindu and the Sikh
scriptures. The term Udasi comes from the
word udas meaning detachment or renun-
ciation. Unlike the Khalsa Sikhs, Udasis do
not prohibit shaving or cutting ones hair.
Udasi heads of akhadas maintain accurate
records of the chain of succession from Sri
Chand.
There are also Nirmal akhadas, another
branch of the Sikh monastic tradition.
Finally, the Bairagis or the Vaishnavas
who too have their own akhadas and they callit Vaishnava Ani. They worship Rama. They
have four main divisions: i) Ramavat (Rama-
nandi), ii) Nimavat (Nimbarka), iii) Madhava
Sampradaya, and iv) Vishnu Swami Sam-
pradaya. (To be continued. . .)
1. Ganges, Indias River of Life, a documentary on the
Ganges produced by Den Rees and serialised on
the BBC by Ian Gray2. Kumbh Mela and the SadhusThe Quest for
Immortality, Pilgrims Publishing, B-27/98 A-8,
Nawabganj Road, Durga Kund, Varanasi, 221010,
Uttar Pradesh. Website: www.pilgrimbooks.com
3. Rig Veda, 10.89,7
4. Introduction by Swami Atmaramananda to
Bhagavad Gita, with Madhusudana Sarasvatis
Gudhartha Dipika, tr. Swami Gambhirananda,
Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p.16-17. Also seeA
History of Dashnami Naga Sanyasis, Sir JadunathSarkar (pub. Sri Panchayati Akhara, Mahanirvani,
Daraganj, Allahabad).
5. Amrita Ganga, Commemorative Souvenir,
Mahakumbha 2010, published by Ramakrishna
Math and Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama,
Kankhal, Hardwar. Cf. Kumbha Mahaparva, by
Swami Amareshananda, p.7-8
References
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