Kumbha Mela is one of the most ancient, yet still living, traditions of India’s glorious past.
The festival dates back the pre-Vedic period, as even in the Vedas Kumbha Mela is described as a tradition that is already well established. The popularity of Kumbha Mela has only increased over the millennia, gathering millions together every twelve years at each of the four holy places in which the auspicious event occurs and making it the world’s largest gathering of people on Earth for one common purpose. It is said that even those saints and sages who live in divine isolation, high in the Himalayas, engaged only in meditation and austerities, emerge from the mountains to attend the Kumbha. Kumbha is a world-renowned trademark of India’s proud antiquity and is a matchlessly divine occasion.
Spanning a period through January and February 2013’s Purnima (Full) Kumbha Mela will take place in Allahabad (the City of God), also known as Prayagraj, a divine location situated on the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati.
Kumbha Mela is a microcosm of the beauty and rich diversity of India. One author describes the Kumbha Mela:
After visiting the Kumbha Mela of 1895, the famous author Mark Twain wrote:
The festival dates back the pre-Vedic period, as even in the Vedas Kumbha Mela is described as a tradition that is already well established. The popularity of Kumbha Mela has only increased over the millennia, gathering millions together every twelve years at each of the four holy places in which the auspicious event occurs and making it the world’s largest gathering of people on Earth for one common purpose. It is said that even those saints and sages who live in divine isolation, high in the Himalayas, engaged only in meditation and austerities, emerge from the mountains to attend the Kumbha. Kumbha is a world-renowned trademark of India’s proud antiquity and is a matchlessly divine occasion.
Spanning a period through January and February 2013’s Purnima (Full) Kumbha Mela will take place in Allahabad (the City of God), also known as Prayagraj, a divine location situated on the confluence of three sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati.
Kumbha Mela is a microcosm of the beauty and rich diversity of India. One author describes the Kumbha Mela:
- “To watch the Kumbh Mela Processions is to witness the march of the ages. As the holy saints pass by on their various and sundry conveyances — elephants, horses, palanquins, chariots, cars, and camels — they are continually transmitting waves of powerful shakti (energy) to all the people who witness this awe-inspiring and most auspicious event. Devotees are overwhelmed by the palpable spiritual vibrations that pervade the entire atmosphere.
- While the parade of saints marches towards the Ganges River, the sounds baffle all description — the shout and cries of ash-smeared sadhus mingle with the neighing of horses, trumpeting of elephants, grunting of camels, the bellowing of bulls. Gongs and drums beat, trumpets blare, conch shells blow and bells ring.”
After visiting the Kumbha Mela of 1895, the famous author Mark Twain wrote:
“It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon mulittudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people…”A new “city” is erected at the time of the Kumbha Mela, a literal city of tents to house the millions of pilgrims who flock there. This year, between 110 to 120 million pilgrims are expected to arrive in Allahabad for the occasion.