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Kumbha Mela

Kumbha Mela (Kumbha means pot) is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage that takes place at the following four locations of India:

1) Prayag (near the city of Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh), at the confluence of the three rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati.

2) Haridwar (in the state of Uttar Pradesh), where the river Ganges enters the plains from the Himalayas,

3) Ujjain (in the state of Madhya Pradesh), on the banks of the Ksipra river, and

4) Nasik (in Maharashtra), on the banks of the Godavari River. The pilgrimage occurs four times every twelve-year cycle includes the Maha (great) Kumbha Mela at Prayag, attended by millions of people, making it the largest pilgrimage gathering in the world.

The observance of Kumbha Mela is based upon the following story: Thousands of years ago, perhaps in the Vedic period, gods and demons made a temporary agreement to work together in obtaining amrita (the nectar of immortality) from the Milky Ocean, and to share this equally. However, when the kumbha (pot) containing the amrita appeared, the demons ran away with the pot and were chased by the gods. For twelve days and twelve nights (equivalent to twelve human years) the gods and the demons fought in the sky for the battle, drops of amrita fell onto four places: Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. Thus Kumbha Mela is observed at these four locations where the nectar fell.

Kumbha Mela is attended by millions of people on a single day. A ritual bath at a predetermined time and place is the major event of this festival. Other activities include religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding of holy men and the poor, and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardized. Kumbha Mela (especially Maha Kumbha Mela) is the most sacred of all Hindu pilgrimages. Thousands of holy men (monks, saints, sadhus) grace the occasion by their presence. The auspiciousness of Kumbha Mela is in part attributed to the gathering of the thousands of holy men at one place on earth.