If faith can move mountains, who can move 900 million Hindus from across the country to Nasik? But before I answer that, let me tell you why Nasik? According to Indian astrology, every year Jupiter transits from one house to another and the transit is associated with it's rays falling on a particular river in India.
Jupiter, the guru of Devas is considered auspicious and the transit celebrated as Kumbhmela in each of the rivers that occurs once every12 years. There is also another legend that the Amrut from churning of the ocean of milk fell across 12 rivers in India making it holy and coupled with Jupiter's transit makes this event more special.
My history of Kumbmela
I love following rivers and participating in Kumbhmela. My first trip to Kumbh was in 2003, and I travelled to Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh to take a dip in Godavari aka Dakshina Ganga. Godavari originates in Brahmagiri mountains on the western coast of India and journeys all the way to the East before it empties into Bay of Bengal.
And if you quickly add 12 to 2003, we get to another Kumbhmela and here I am at the ugamasthan (point of orinigation) at in Nasik to take a dip. In 2013, I travelled to Allahabad aka Triveni sangam, confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati to attend Maha Kumbh that happens every 144 years. In 2011, for the Kumbh in Ganges, I traveled to Haridwar and in a 6 months from now the next Kumbh falls at Kumbakonam.
Attraction and special days
From infants, kids, women, geriatrics, gurus clad in ochre, to naked gurus aka nanga babas
millions parade to the banks of the river to take a dip to holy chants and this spectacle can be a sensory overload. A few millions are needed to manage and regulate the movement, safety, and security of pilgrims from the moment they arrive till they depart. There are special days such Ammavasya (New moon day), Pournima (full moon day), Ekadesi, and Shahi Snan days that draws many more thousands to the banks of the river.
There are two snan ghats where people usually take a dip: Ramkund at Panchavati or Kushavart tirth. I was in Nasik attending my fourth Kumbh trying to find a calm spot at Ramkund at 6.30 am on a Wednesday between the three Shahi Snan days (August 29, Sep 13 and 18). Usually, one takes the service of priests to do sankalp (prayers) before snan and also offer them monetary assistance for their service. Finally, before leaving one takes a can of holy water from the river to be shared with friends and family who couldn't make it.
What do scriptures say?
While Hindus and their scriptures revere rivers, do they care to keep it clean is a point to ponder. Two of the 10 avtars of Vishnu survive in water: Matsya (fish) and Koorma (Tortoise) and moreover, Hindu scriptures clearly instructs when to step into a river (never before sunrise or after sunset) and how to conduct oneself from not polluting the river (spitting, defecation, etc.) degrading the ecosystem.
Colorful, but polluting
Though it is colorful to watch clothes, flowers, lamps, money, coconut among many other things offered to river goddess, but to see the cumulative accumulation at downstream is an eye sore. Despite being biodegradable, the above materials take time to degrade, pollute the river and affect aquatic life.
Sadly, the Swatch Barath and clean Ganga project taken up by our Prime Minister has been more of a talk and we are yet to see any tangible results. I took enough care not to leave any plastic nearby the banks and also refrained from offering any material to river goddess.
Test of faith
The congregation that brings people from across the country ends up splitting some families in the process. Sounds sad, dramatic and test of faith, huh?
One can constantly hear announcements over the public address system trying to unite families and children lost in the sea of humanity. You can also come across people who keep visiting Kumbhmelas with a hope to find their lost kids and speared family members. Apart from this Kumbhmela also tests the preparedness of Railways, Health Department and Law and Order to provide safety, security and logistics support to move almost a billion people. No other country or festival in the world gathers so many people in one location.
My test of faith
Since I was traveling by myself, I had no one to lose or search, but I still had my share of test of faith. Coming back to the question posed at the beginning of the blog, moving sea of humanity driven by faith is a challenge and our Indian Railways does a phenomenal job trying to carry more that it can accommodate and sometimes this also means there could be delays.
I was meticulously tracking the Gorakhpur Lokamanya Tilak Express, coming from North East of India to South West of India, which was running a few hours late over it 1578 kms journey, 100 kms longer than the distance travelled by the second longest river in India, Godavari. Will I be able to catch my late night flight to Chennai?
Amazing article
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