The idea of myth in India called gaatha is a lived experience of a circle of stories that translates into rituals and pilgrimages. The Kumbh Mela, arguably the greatest lived phenomenon of a gaatha, is anchored on faith to transcend into timelessness and sustain in the face of the struggle of life.
The gaatha of the churning of the ocean at one point has the majestic eagle – The Garuda who snatches the pitcher (Kumbh) of Amrit – nectar of immortality and flies away only to spill drops of nectar in four locations. When astrological stars combine in six ( Ardh/half) and 12 years (poorna/full), the essence of nectar is revived and Kumbh Mela as the pilgrimage is renewed. This year it is the Ardh Kumbh in Prayagraj (Allahabad).
The Kumbh in Prayag, attains a greater importance since the cosmic energies are augmented by the confluence of rivers – the Ganges for purity, the Yamuna for devotion and hidden Saraswati for knowledge; and just as the Gods and the demons ran in frenzy following Garuda to seek the nectar, so do the millions of believers who move as a sea of humanity to collate at the locations of Kumbh. They grapple to capture the idea of liberation with the one action of purpose – a holy dip in the waves forming the confluence called Sangam at Prayag. Says Tulsidas, the celebrated 16th century poet, “Beautiful is the meeting of the white (Ganga) and the dark Yamuna. Such that Tulsi's heart leaps with joy at the sight of the waves transcending energies for the soul.”
The UNESCO awakened to this centuries-old organic phenomenon only in 2017 and inscribed the Kumbh as part of the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. There is no invitation, the assembly of millions is self-driven. The multitudes begin their pilgrimage by boarding trains, riding bullock carts, tractors, buses, their belongings on their heads in bags of jute, buying their temporary chullahs for making food, boarding in the temporary tents along the dry sandy banks of the river their faces are lit with the live energies of faith.
Tale of the Teerthraj
In the 3rd section of the text called Matsyapurana, there is the explanation of reaping rewards by visiting, reading and listening to the account of the greatness of the place of pilgrimage. It also prescribes internal sequel of pilgrimage, appropriate time and gives an account of body-vibration caused by the pilgrimage. Prayag, the location for the Kumbh 2019, has its own spiritual cosmic topography that emerges out of the natural and mythical worlds and makes it the imperial beholder (Teerthraj) of pilgrimage spots. The pilgrimage geography is lined around the central location Sangam (confluence of the rivers). Prayag is where the first nectar drops fell and it is here that Brahma, the creator of the universe performed the first series of fire sacrifices (Yagya).
Unlike Varanasi, the rivers change their course in Prayag, it is, for this reason, Prayag has few built ghats (landing steps). The pilgrimage geography recreates the gaatha of the churning of the ocean – The Vaasuki Naag Temple recalls the role of the Serpent Vasuki who was transformed into rope for churning, while the Beni Madhav Temple is the city deity like Vishwanath (Protector of the World) in Varanasi. The occurrence of Kumbh also has the allegorical associations with astrological happenings, the time of sacred baths which have the potential of great rewards are allotted with careful mathematical calculations, and to recall this there is a fascinating temple of Bhishma - a figure from the epic Mahabharata who lay injured on a bed of arrows awaiting the appropriate movement of the Sun in an auspicious space of the month of Maagh before he left his mortal being.
The phenomenon of ascetics
The culture of becoming a Sadhu, an ascetic in the Hindu tradition is varied and complex. In the historical sense, a variety of the sects of the ascetics called the akharas functioned as traders, and later as mercenaries which are also why they came to clash with the British East India Company. Gradually, they lost their sources of income, and today most akharas survive on support by faithful many of whom are NRI Indians and a large number of traders especially from Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Kolkata.
Swami Akhanadananda of the Swasti Juna Akhada says, “There are 13 registered akharas who are present in the Kumbh. Each section of akhara has a leader Mandaleshwar. The sadhus belong to two main categories, the Swati Nama and the Giri Nama. In all the categories, the constant test is sustaining detachment, controlling the senses, seeking the truth of existence and finding moksha the path of release from the cycle of birth. A Swasti Nama like me remain in the material world but sustain a strict code of detachment and seclusion for meditation; the latter seek their liberation through meditative practices in the mountains (Giri). The Naga, (ascetics without clothes and covered in ash) come in the category of Giri Nama. They reach a height of detachment where the ego represented shedding of clothes and ash represents what their bodies will ultimately become.”
The Kumbh is sociologically the biggest event for the ascetics. Akharas ensure the participation of their members. The main ritual bathing days generates power struggle. Depending on the number of members attending, the order for the great bathing dates is drawn in which the akharas will get to perform the ritual bath. On the said dates details are drawn for rituals and the manner in which the processions of the akharas as a living exhibition called Peshwai is enacted. Chariots, adornment of weapons, music and other kinds of performances become visual tools for asserting power. Apart from the main bathing days, the calendar of the akharas is marked by dictating instruction to ascetics, inducting new members and spiritual discourses along with outreach exercise to attract devotees who in turn financially support the akharas.
Unaccounted Sociology and Economics
During the Kumbh, Prayag as a pilgrim location exhibits an economic opportunity but also sociological complexities. Traditional communities like the Prayagwals (pilgrim priests), and the Nishads or the boatmen are important stakeholders. While the priests keep the Bahi khathas (or pilgrim records) and perform rituals, the Nishads (boatmen) called Mallahs or Kevat although low in caste hierarchy gain sacred legitimacy through the gaatha from the Ramayana.
It is believed that it was the Nishad from Prayag who took Ram, his wife and brother across the river when they were exiled. Hence carrying devotees symbolises a sacred activity. The Kumbh generates a large amount of income for these communities, who raise their prices and are well networked. They use code language concerning ways to deal with pilgrim clients to maximise profits.
The Kumbh Mela is a sociological a temporary city with complex dynamics. Managing non-violent crowds, facilities and maintaining hygiene and control of disease is a mammoth task for which historically there is very little data. A Mela Committee was set up after the 1954 stampede. I grew up listening to experiences. My mother, (writer Manorama Jafa) says, “We were students in the Allahabad University, I never want to go back, for all I remember was picking dead bodies after the stampede.” Another important occurrence is the abandoning of women. Late at night even today, there is the announcement of women who are ‘lost’, a large number of them are widows. My own great grandmother had set up a widow home in a locality Lukergunj to provide shelter to abandoned women of Kumbh.
Over a period of time, not pilgrimage but exotica tourism has surfaced. In the quasi-religious spaces ‘designed’ meditation, yoga programmes, luxury tent cities, and exhibitions have emerged. Alongside, the ascetics display explicitly for their audiences - while some eat fire, blades others through Yogic powers pronounce prophecies. There is no doubt it is a performance of nirvana, display of colour and diversity where the poignancy of faith in the moving waves of the rivers drowns human politics and greed. It is a phenomenon where the faith of millions will defy all adversities to reassert hope for humanity.
Darshan:
A scene of Ardh Kumbh Mela
As colours and picturesque canvases emerge, the Kumbh becomes an intriguing frame for dynamic freezing of human action. Raghu Rai, the maverick genius of Indian photography has been photographing Kumbh on multiple occasions. His responses as an artist Yogi are distinct especially against the rage of a large number of photography tours, and the frenzy that grips media from all over the world – most, who do not realise how intrusive their actions become for the faithful who is focused in a private journey of liberation.
Rai says, “When in Kumbh, I am on a journey, I am not thinking, all I am doing is internalising the feeling of the faces and their body language. I hope like they (my subject) hope as they take a dip to gain their God. I, like them, seek to feel their freedom to travel the waves of energies. This country is a dynamic symbol of endless faith, where the millions are directed to take a single dip and have an interface of the ephemeral idea of Nirvana in a moment. Yes, it is all about a moment, when my click happens. I journey to capture that faith as they touch and speak to me. Photography of Kumbh is a spiritual journey of expressive feeling.”
The media, which in recent times includes travel photographers and bloggers operate to facilitate not the pilgrim but the tourist exotic gaze. It is about feeding the capitalist market forces. The journey of internal spirituality so seminal beneath the external experiences goes missing while in telescoping the event without understanding in either photography or writing even through these visual and written accounts are entertaining to the urban Indian and the Western audiences. Most ascetics and other traditional stakeholders are aware now of the currency they represent and thus their Darshan transforms the arena of detachment into forums of material exchange. Talking about the photographic and travel blogging tours, Rai says, “Photography and writing are meditative, lonely journeys and not group activities. They can be merely fun…”
Kumbh is a metaphorical representation co-scripted from gaathas, sociology, history and lived flowing traditions. It symbolises enactment and renewal of a focus for sublime peace which emerges from a chaotic space, from a screen of eyes of life and fire of faith and yet in the experience of the Darshan the Eyes of Life remains a losing struggle for permanence.
Distinct Impulses:
In every Kumbh gathering, your eyes will catch some usual acts that display the power of Yoga, meditation manifesting marvels that provide a spectacle of ascetics at all levels of spiritual development. Those who eat razor blades, stand in freezing water or stand on the head for days. However, the ongoing Ardh (Half) Kumbh- 2019 has a couple of first time features:
Against the removal of the archaic ruling of Section 377, the inclusion of the Kinnar (transgender akhara) as the 14th sacred sect of Hindu ascetics is a big milestone. Adi Shankaracharya (8thc) organised the Hindu ascetic sects in 13 Akharas to protect the Sanathan Dharma, (path of eternal duty). Says Swami Akhandananda (Juna Akhada), “There was always the intention to give representation to transgender (kinnar) ascetics by way of exclusive akharas. After the last Kumbh in 2013, the various heads of all the akharas, along with the Sankracharyas formalised the decision. This akhara like others follow rules, and is granted similar
privileges.”
Swachh Bharat!
A whiff of dust fills the nostrils thrown up by the enthusiastic women sweepers who laughingly intermittently appear in the exhibition ground – Sanskriti Gram in the Kumbh annoying visitors, welcome to Swachh Bharat, and celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th anniversary! The Uttar Pradesh Government and the Mela Committee have left no stone unturned from over 1.2 lakh eco-friendly public toilets, over 20 thousand sweepers, the public announcement on using toilets, video screens in various parts of the Mela ground and in the city on hygiene and sanitation. However, the crowning glory is the Toilet Cafeteria. Interior designs of toilet accessories are augmented by messages like ‘Do not forget to wash hands after a visit to the toilet!’. An engaging part of this café is the tuition towards hygiene and toilet habits by the American ascetic and disciple of the power Guru Swami Chitananada Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati, who I first got a glimpse walking with the swami with a group of young priests directing in her American Hindi – ‘Come, join the bliss of the Sangam with aarti – lighting the way to Nirvana’
