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Kumbha Mela - Fairs and Festivals in
India
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Kumbh Mela is a mega event
that is organized four times in every twelve years in India. The
festivity has truly come into the limelight and acquired fame not just
in India, but made its presence felt even abroad. The celebration of Kumbh Mela takes places at four different places, namely Prayag (Allahabad),
Ujjain, Haridwar and Nasik. Maha Kumbh mela, also known as the great
Kumbh mela, is held only once in twelve years in Allahabad.
Millions of devotees come from all across the country to witness this
distinguished festivity. The credit for initiating the Kumbha Mela
festivity can be attributed to the King Harshvardhana of Ujjain, who
took it as an opportunity to make donations to help the poor and needy
and to strengthen the faith of people of all religions in the divine
power.
The Religious Importance
The festival is religiously most important for the Hindus. At every
Kumbh occasion, millions of Hindus take part in the celebrations.
During 2001 Kumbh at Allahabad, more than 35 million devotees gathered
at the site. Saints, priests, and yogis from all corners of India,
gather to participate in Kumbh. Of all the places, Allahabad is the
most sacred place and is the site for the Maha Kumbh Mela (The Grand
Kumbh Fair).
The festival is visited by the most amazing saints from all across
India. The Naga Sadhus are one such, who never any cloth and are
smeared in ash. They have long matted hairs and are not at all
affected by the extremes of heat and cold. Then there are the
Urdhwavahurs, who believe in putting the body through severe
austerities. There are the Parivajakas, who have taken a vow of
silence and go about tinkling little bells to get people out of their
way. The Shirshasins stand all 24 hours and meditate for hours
standing on their heads. Spending the entire month of Kumbh on the
banks of Ganga, meditating, performing rituals and bathing thrice a
day, are the Kalpvasis.
It is believed that bathing during Kumbh cures the bather of all sins
and evils and grants the bather, salvation. It is also believed that
at the time of Kumbh Yog, the water of Sangam (confluence of rivers at
Allahabad) is charged with positive healing effects and that water at
the time of Kumbh is charged positively by enhanced electromagnetic
radiations of the Sun, Moon and the Jupiter, the flux of which also
varies in accordance to positions and the phases of the moon, and also
by the + and - signs of the sun spots. As per Puranas (Hindu Scripts)
properties of river water at Allahabad has been referred to as Amrit
or elexir.
The Occasion
The Maha Kumbh mela takes place every 12 year at Allahabad, next due
in 2013. The festival lasts for more than 1 month. During this period,
the city witness arrival and departure of more than 30 million
pilgrims. The most auspicious day for the holy dip is the day of the
revered saint Amavasya, when the banks of the Sangam are flooded with
devotees to as far as the eyes can behold. Other sacred days marked by
celebrations are Makar Sankranti, Magi Poornima, Paush Poornima,
Basant Panchmi, and Maha Shivratri. (Hindus consider the period when
the sun enters the zodiac known as Makar or Capricorn as most
auspicious and beneficial, and rejoice and pray on the day of Makar
Sankranti. |
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