by Eve Redstone

Created on: August 28, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

The Festival of Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival that celebrates part of the creation myth of the religion. There are several different versions of the story that refer to the same incident. At the time of the creation the Gods and Demons came to a temporary truce to stir the ocean and to allow them to extract and share amrit ( the elixir of immortality).

The stories diverge at this point but drops of the elixir fall to the ground forming gem mines and the four holy sites of the festival of Kumbh Mela. The fight for the elixir takes place over twelve days and nights for the Gods and Demons, which equates to twelve years in mortal terms.

The four sites of Kumbh Mela are Allahabad (Prayag), Hardwar (Haridwar), Ujjain and Nashik. The festival rotates between these four cities. Theoretically the festival occurs every three years, returning to each city every twelve years. However, calculation of the exact time and place of the festival depend on astrological and religious considerations and the Kumbh Mela sometimes occur only a year apart at different sites. The festival itself stretches over the space of approximately a month. The Purna Kumbh Mela occurs every twelve years and the Maha Kumbh Mela every one hundred and forty-four years (last in 2001). It is considered especially lucky to be able to attend this.

Unlike many religious festivals the Kumbh Mela requires attendance at the site for true participation. Devotees take part in ritual bathing in the river at the sites, which are believed to bestow an inner and outer cleansing, washing away the sins of this and previous lives.

All branches of the Hindu religion are represented with ash and saffron robed Sadhu, naked ascetics, nuns, monks and ordinary believers all taking part in the ritual processions to the river. Religious debates, discussions and assemblies take place. Mass feeding of holy men and the poor form an important charitable act for participants.

The Kumbh Mela as regarded by many Hindus as the most holy of festivals, in part because of the number of holy figures that attend. On any given day of the festival as many as a million people can be found bathing in the river, particularly at the times and places considered most auspicious. The total number of devotees attending the festival in recent years has been estimated at as many as seventy million2, a number that may increase with the availability of long distance travel to all.

The sheer popularity and importance of the festival has led in itself to problems. In 1954 at Allahabad many hundred pilgrims were trampled to death, and in 2003 thirty-nine pilgrims died at Nashik . The massive temporary population explosion causes public health problems2 such as cholera at Haridwar in 1892. Nowadays, the government sets up large tent cities with toilet blocks to house the massive influx.

Upcoming Kumbh Mela :

Haridwar (the gateway to God) will host the Purna Kumbha mela in the year 2010 (March-April)

The Purna Kumbha Mela will again be held at Allahabad (Prayag) in the year 2013 (January 27th to February 25th)

Nasik will host the Purna Kumbha Mela in 2015 (August 15th to September 13th)

Ujjan Purna Kumbh Mela 2016 (April 22nd to May 21st)

http://www.theholidayspot.com/kumbh_mela/maha_kumbh_ mela.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela

http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/india/kumbha_mela.ht ml

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