The Kumbh: A Confluence of River, Religion and People Back

A Look at an Intangible Cultural Heritage Phenomenon

Nerupama Y. Modwel
Principal Director
Intangible Cultural Heritage Division
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)

Photo: ICH- INTACH

If one were to ask a diverse array of people to briefly describe the Kumbh Mela, one would likely get an equal number of varied replies. “A sacred tradition.”“The Supreme Pilgrimage.” “An Ascendance.”“A holy confluence of rivers.”“Divine meaning, divine order, incarnate in tangible, holy chaos.”“A gathering of people so large, it is beyond all comprehension of sight and sound.”

It is widely believed that the Kumbh Mela is an ancient religious festival with its origin deep in the formative stages of Sanatana Dharma. It was routine for early Aryan communities to organise yearly fairs at a specific time in various different locations.

Indeed, there are many Puranic references highlighting the significance of Prayag, sangam, magh month and the Sagar Manthan story, but the word Kumbh is not mentioned in the context of a mela. Despite its absence in early texts, there are accounts by foreign travelers of a mela similar to the Kumbh in early periods.

Megasthenes, for example, who was the Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, is said to have visited a mela for seventy-five days in the 4^th/3^rdcentury BCE. Later, in the 7th century CE, the Chinese, Buddhist monk Xuanzang travelled to India and visited Prayag during his visit. He writes of a grand mela, an “age-long festival,” organised here, and records the benevolence of King Harshvardhana at Prayag during the event, writing that he generously donated his property among the public.

Niccolao Mannuci, the Italian traveler who visited India from 1655 to 1717 CE, mentions a quinquennial festival held at Prayag. The earliest mention, by name, of the Kumbh Mela is found in the Persian records Khulasatu-t- Tawarikh (1695 CE) and Chahar Gulshan (1759 CE), which describe the fairs held at Haridwar, Prayagaraj, and Nashik. The Khulasat-t-Tawarikh, a contemporary chronicle of the Mughal Empire by Sujan Rai, gives a description of the Kumbh, mentioning the specific yearly cycles and astrological significance of the fairs.

A reference to the Kumbh Mela is also found in the Yadgar-e-Bahaduri (1834 CE) by Bahadur Singh, which states that the attendance at the Mela was drastically reduced that year because of impositions of pilgrim taxes by the British.

Mark Twain, the American author, visited Prayag in 1895 and marveled at the Kumbh Mela, “These pilgrims had come from all over India; some of them had been months on the way, plodding patiently along the heat and dust, worn and poor, hungry, but supported and sustained by an unwavering faith and belief. It is wonderful that the power of faith like that can make multitudes upon multitudes 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.”

Regardless of the debate over the exact historicity and antiquity of the Kumbh Mela, one cannot deny that it is a spectacular event that is unique to India. As the world’s “largest peaceful gathering of pilgrims on earth,” it is quite remarkable and a subject of great interest globally.

There are three types of Kumbh Mela, which are organised at four holy sites in India. Prayagaraj, which is considered one of the supreme tirthas, witnesses all three types of Kumbh. Every six years, an Ardhkumbh is organised here. Every twelve years, when Jupiter enters the Taurus constellation and the Sun enters Capricorn in the Vedic calendar, Poornakumbh is celebrated. After twelve cycles of twelve years—a hundred and forty-four years—

the Mahakumbh is celebrated.

Another major pilgrimage centre is Haridwar, in Uttarakhand. In a region with the appellation devbhumi, or abode of the gods, the Ganga gushes through this city in its journey down into the plains from its source at Gaumukh. Every sixth year, an Ardhkumbh is held in Haridwar, while every twelfth year, when the Sun is in the constellation Aries in the Vedic calendar, the Moon is in Sagittarius, and Jupiter enters the position of Aquarius, the Kumbh is held.

The Kumbh is, in a sense, not an organised event so much as a phenomenon, intrinsic and ancient and constant. An enigmatic event systematically engaged with by millions. The fair is an occurrence of enormous religious, cultural, mythological and economic significance for the Indian subcontinent. There are two key aspects to it that distinguish it from other religious pilgrimages. They go hand in hand, these two aspects: the first being that all the four Kumbh melas must take place on the banks of a ‘sacred’ river, deeply connected as they are to the rites of bathing. The second key aspect is that these always take place during predetermined, unique, and auspicious astrological arrangements, which involve the Sun, the Moon, or Jupiter in different constellations.

To understand its impact, we must begin by considering it elementally. Water, of the five elements, has held deep, innate importance for humankind for about the same amount of time that humanity has had conscious existence. Water, the substance of spirit and giver of life, is the greatest constituent of both planet and body. In India, water’s significance has been textually recorded since the Vedic period. The Rigveda states this reverently:

या आपो दिव्या वा स्त्रवंति खनित्रिमा उत वा या: स्वयंजा: I

समुद्रार्था या: शुचय: पावकास्ता आपो देवीरिह मामवंतु I

[Of the cloud and the drop, of the canals and the rivers and the oceans; all are extensions of the same. Let this water, which holds divine qualities, protect us.]

Add to this the legend of the nectar of immortality, amrit, falling at the four locations where the Kumbh Mela is observed today—and the belief in the beneficial qualities of bathing in the holy Ganga or at the sangam—and one begins to comprehend the powerful draw of the Kumbh.

It stands to reason then that the Ganga, India’s biggest river, fed by tributaries and smaller rivers, a ‘divine being’ deeply revered, would hold the most degree of sacredness. In a text of the Mahabharata, Bhishma, son of the river goddess Ganga, declares that all the hills, dwellings, and kingdoms located in the Ganga’s path are to be considered sacred land or punyabhumi—not only the Ganga, but every particle it touches is a pilgrimage spot.

In present-day Uttar Pradesh lies Prayagaraj, the tirtha raja, considered the crest of such holy sites. In Prayagaraj, the Ganga, which is believed to be the personification of piousness and is referred to as punyadayini—the giver of punya, righteousness—meets two other rivers. It meets the Yamuna River, which is both a symbol of devotion and the Ganga’s biggest tributary. It also meets the invisible river Saraswati, which symbolises knowledge. Here, at this triveni, the “triple-braid” of rivers, the Kumbh Mela is considered most powerful.

According to the Matsya Purana (107.7), those who bathe in the bright waters of the Ganga where they meet the dark waters of the Yamuna during the month of Magh will not be reborn, even in thousands of years.

The Indologist Dr. G.C. Tripathi describes the most important part of the Kumbh as “the element of a cosmic force called amrit, or nectar.” Stating that the dates of the Kumbh Mela are determined astrologically, he adds, “The phenomenon that the Sun is behind the Moon in this phase; its heat and energy results in the release of the ‘nectar’ generated in the Moon. The belief is that taking a dip in the sacred waters during the Kumbh brings the blessings of thenectar.”

The Kumbh Mela is, undoubtedly, the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on Earth—as acknowledged in documentations by the National Geographic, the BBC, and Harvard University. In 2017, the Mela was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as an event that is attended by millions, irrespective of caste, creed, or gender; a culturally diverse festival. It is interesting to note that the Kumbh Mela is not only a religious gathering for cleansing one’s sins and gaining spiritual merit, but also an occasion for holding religious assemblies at which doctrines and national matters are debated.

When UNESCO considered the Kumbh Mela’s inclusion in this list, the Mela’s contribution to “cultural diversity and creativity, as well as tolerance and learning” was kept in view. This is best exemplified by how the Kumbh Mela embraces the old guru-shishya parampara, peaceful discourse, the imparting and imbibing of Veda gyan, chanting of traditional Vedic hymns to purify the environment, demonstrations by yogis, performances of music and dance, and so on. The sale of hundreds of craft items, merchandise and trinkets, and street food, lends a festive air to the Mela, adding the element of a ‘fair’ to a religious and deeply devotional tirtha.

Photo: ICH-INTACH

The Akhadas, the traditional monastic orders of ascetics, an important component of Sanatana Dharma, get precedence at the Kumbh. They display a balance between devotion and discipline, tranquility and physical strength, practice and instruction. Physical fitness, to them, is equally significant to spiritual strength. For holistic living, they see both as required, believing in the old adage:

शक्तिकेकवचबिनभक्तिदुर्बल

भक्तिकेअंत:करणबिनशक्तिउन्मत्त

[Devotion, without the shield of strength, is feeble. But pure strength, without the conscience

 of devotion, is chaotic.]

The spiritual ecstasy they are enveloped in reflects the truth of eternal bliss (sat chit anand), which cannot be found in the material sphere. The Akhadas give paramount respect to all elements of the natural world, reminding the rest of the world that harmonious co-existence with nature has been an age-old notion as well, and is not simply a modern push toward environmental sustainability.

It is not only the metaphysical aspect of higher forces at work that entices people to attend, but a more immediate, unshakeable faith in the power of the Kumbh and the snan or holy bathing to wash away one’s sins and renew oneself to the world. Thus, one hopes to achieve punya.

In the Ashtam Ashtak of the Rigveda, it is written that one who travels duringthe auspicious period may cleanse themselves of their earthly sins with good deeds, charity, and piety. The poet Kabir wrote of ‘kumbh’ as a metaphor for the body:

फूटाकुम्भजलजलहिंसमाना, यहतथकथौगियानीI

[The atm tatv, the human soul, is inherited in the pitcher, kumbh, of the body. When the body

 is broken, it is reunited with the parmatv tatv, in transcendent absolute truth.]

To Kabir, the Kumbh is a time to fill up one’s pitcher-being with intellect and self-realisation.

The Poornakumbh itself, with its lotuses and water, is a symbol of not only auspicious plenty, but of the river goddess. The concept of river goddesses—nadi matrika—is as ancient as it is widespread. The idea of river as mother is mentioned in the Rigveda, which speaks of seven rivers and seven notes as Mata. A.L. Basham has expressed a similar idea held by people, stating, “In the flat plains, the land was cut by canals running from the great rivers and dotted with artificial reservoirs, which were made by and fed its smaller channels, which watered the fields. This water contained a great deal of silt, which helped the soil and the crops. This soil is known as nadi-matrika.” A river can support life in an integral way, indeed, birthing it. Across millennia, countless civilisations have emerged to not only dwell but thrive on the banks of rivers. As borne out in literature—written and oral, global and local, classical and folk—rivers have been simplified and elevated in equal measure to goddesses and mothers; cultural identities in their own right.

Thus, feminine personifications of rivers are common in India. While each has her own unique iconography, a common element among river goddesses is in the water pot they carry. Just as the Kumbh is held on the confluence of rivers, the river goddesses are united by their kumbh.

Of the three rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, the Ganga is the most revered. Described as a river goddess as striking as the peaks of the Himalayas the river originates from, the Ganga is said to have the Makar, the legendary sea-creature, as her mount. In the Bhagwad Gita, Shree Krishna in verse 31 of chapter ten declares the Ganga as one of the vibhutis, glorious forms, of the Supreme:

पवन: पवतामस्मि राम: शस्त्रभृतामहम् |
झषाणां मकरश्चास्मि स्रोतसामस्मि जाह्नवी ||

[Amongst purifiers I am the wind, amongst wielders of weapons I am Rama, of fishes I am the makar, of flowing rivers I am the Ganga.]

Photo: ICH-INTACH

The sanctity of the sangam, the confluence of the Ganga with the Yamuna, is such that the act of bathing in such waters can be more spiritually effective than the attainment of supreme knowledge itself—for it is through a bath in the two rivers merged is one assured liberation from the bonds of birth, death, and rebirth.

Though unseen, the river Saraswati too is a symbolic part of this tri-confluence. It is mentioned in the Rigveda as being between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west. Later Vedic texts like the Jaiminiya Brahmanas and Tandya, as well asthe Mahabharata mention that the Saraswati dried to nonexistence in a desert. The local lore in Prayagaraj is that the Saraswati flows under the city in a deep well known as Saraswati Koop.

Numerous stories on the origins of the Ganga exist as well. One of the most popular of such stories is from Vishwamitra’s Ramayan Bal Kand, wherein the cursed souls of King Bhagirath’s ancestors were liberated by the touch of the Ganga’s holy water.

One would be hard-pressed to find a ritual that does not involve the use of water. The water that accompanies one for worship is purified first, typically by the ‘Jala-Suddhi’ mantra. With this water, rivers are invited into the water to purify it. The Ganga is oft involved in these rituals, including the shodash sanskara, which is given in Sanatana Dharma. For those who live on the banks of the Ganga, there is little example of ritual which does not involve the Ganga in some way or the other. The last rites of a person, antyeshti, are pivotal on the Ganga, since the river is believed to have to power to elevate all who touch it, living or dead, up to heavenly realms.

The Kumbh Mela has a worldwide reputation as a ‘mega-event’—not only for the sheer number of attendants, but also for a wide display of cultural traits of the Indian subcontinent. A large number of pilgrims and visitors arrive to see the sadhus, or renunciants, who come to take the ritual bath in the holy waters. The number of pilgrims especially swells to millions when the Naga sadhus and Juna and Dasnamai Akhada ascetics come for their ritual bathing. Per custom, they enjoy some degree of privilege, such as exclusive access to the sangam on auspicious days marked for shahi snan. As they arrive to the sangam in a colorful and grand procession, it is a memorable spectacle to witness. On this occasion other sadhus are seen in full grandeur; their procession march includes elephants and horses, which are ornamented. The leaders of various sects are borne in heavily adorned palanquins, and this royal procession culminates with the sadhus joyfully bathing in the Ganga. This event, called shahi snan, is famed, and one of the biggest draws for people to attend Kumbh, not only as a spectacle, but to get darshan, or sacred sight, of theascetics.

The Kumbh Melais open to anyone who would have an interest in attending. There are no conditions for visitors; the principle of inclusivity can be seen in how public activities like ritual bathing, discourses by prominent religious leaders, cultural performances and langar or community meals are open to all. In Kumbh 2019, the Kinnar Akhada of transgender ascetics was allowed to participate in the peshwai or procession for the first time. Later, theKinnarAkhadawas mergedwith the Juna.

Photo: ICH-INTACH

There are constants in the rituals, beliefs, and customs that comprise the backbone of the Kumbh. When bathing in the sangam, it is seen as auspicious to donate, whatever one can afford, to the needy. The devout also undertake parikrama—the ritual of moving clockwise around the object of devotion—of Prayag. There is a beautiful ritual called the suhag pitari, wherein the rivers are offered the same objects and accessories that would be typically considered gifts for a married lady. There is also the kumbh kalash dan, an act of charity where fresh food and produce, money, matches and incense are donated. Another custom, specific to the Kumbh Mela, is in how people offer idols of Brihaspati—the wisdom-giver, synonymous with Jupiter.

According to the Mahabharata’s narration, Prayag is the most revered place of worship in the entire universe. It is believed that, by Lord Brahma’s declaration, all sins are immediately eradicated upon entrance to Prayag. The city is considered dear to Lord Vishnu too. The Prayaga Mahatamya mentions three eternal guardians of the sacred pilgrimage of Prayag, which correspond with the triforce of major deities in Hinduism. Vishnu is represented by the four limbed idol veni-madhava, Brahma is represented by the shalmali or the silk-cotton tree, and Shiva is represented by the banyan-fig tree.

Despite lesser textual support to claims of the Kumbh’s historicity, there is no doubt that it holds the promise of deep meaning and joy to millions, both nationally and globally. It is believed by the most faithful that Kumbh Parv has been in existence since ananta kal— ‘eternal time’. It is believed that in the universe, it will be there till the end of time, too. One could say

that to calculate the age of the Kumbh, one would need to calculate the age of time itself. But then again, in the words of the great mathematician Aryabhata,

कालोयमनाध्यन्तः

[Kal, Time, has no beginning or end at all. AryabhatiyaGranth, 499 CE]

People across the country, the globe, are drawn in faith to attend the Mela. TheKumbh provides an uncommon opportunity to escape from the strains of a literal, materialistic world, and experience a refinement of existence down to the unification of the soul with earth and its waters, with mass consciousness, and with the eternal. Despite its color and festivities, the heart of the Kumbh is this minimalistic refinement, the purifying, spiritual cleanse. One may consider that here, the essence of dharma is presented in its purest form—not by pushing to fulfill worldly needs, but by keeping them to the minimum; by rejoicing in the sensation of overflowing spirituality instead.

The Kumbh Mela is truly an awe-inspiring and remarkable confluence—in sacred time—of holy rivers and an enormous mass of humanity connected with deep religious beliefs and impeachable devotion. There is no other congregation that can match this collective set of circumstances.

Text: Nerupama Y. Modwel
Research: Bhawna Vyas
Photos: Harish Benjwal
INTACH