Palna Patel from Vadodara visited the Kumbh Mela and this account dictates her experience in the first person:
Indian culture is steeped in uniqueness — every 100kms the way the people dress, the food they eat, their language, music, and art is unique to a region.
One place where you can really see the diversity and complexity of our culture as a whole is the Kumbh Mela. As Indians, all of us have experienced religion or faith in some form or the other. The Kumbh Mela is the grand celebration of humanity’s faith.
It’s also is recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The Kumbh Mela is held four times over a period of 12 years, while the Purna Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years, cycling through Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik.
The Ardh Kumbh Mela, the one taking place now, is held every six years at either Haridwar or Prayagraj.
The first thing that strikes you about the Mela is the sheer hugeness of the event. An entire area of 3200 hectares next to the Sangam, the confluence point of Ganga, Yamuna and mystical Saraswati, is transformed into a temporary self-sustainable township with a few hospitals, dozens of police stations, several make-shift bridges over the rivers, and a temporary railway station.
As you enter the Kumbh Mela you will find yourself devoured by the prayer bells and the chanting of mantras that goes on for the whole day and night. A few pandals have a recitation of religious scriptures by famous kathkaars for the pilgrims, yoga sessions, classical dance programs, bhajans, kirtan etc. that goes on for the entire period of Kumbh Mela.
But this festival is not only about religion: there’s a lot more to it. The overall ambiance is truly unique. Where else in the world would you get to see such a huge temporary colony of people living in tents on the banks of a river? Well, there were many options for accommodation at the Kumbh but I preferred to stay at the Niranjani akhada (2nd largest akhada) as it would be easier for me to interact, learn and understand the various sadhnas carried out by the naga sadhus or the sanyasis.
Akhada is a distorted form of the word ‘akhand’, which means complete organization. The Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad is based on the system of akharas in Hindu society.
My experiences with the Naga Babas
There are sadhus and sadhus, and then, there are sadhus. I, like most people, associate naga babas as being: stark naked, covered with ash, marijuana smoking followers of Lord Shiva.
I was always curious to know the initiation process of the nagas, and I was lucky enough to have a conversation with one of the heads of naga sadhus known as ‘Maha Mandleshwar.’ who told me there are basically 3 stages of becoming a naga sadhu.
Stage 1: Mahapurush
The first stage of becoming a naga requires an individual to practice being a brahmacharya for 6 years. At this stage, the ‘sadhak’ (aspirant) joins an akhada (group) where he devotes himself to a guru and becomes his shisya. Once the aspirant masters his biological needs like sleep, sex and food he is then conferred with the title of a Mahapurush.
Stage 2: Avdhoot
In this stage, the sadhak has to deny himself all worldly attachments including family bonds, friendship ties, materialistic possessions, and worries, live on the bare minimum, eat once a day, live a secluded life away from civilization, commitment to sadhna, yoga and religious rituals, strong supporters of truth, etc.
Stage 3: Naga
The third stage is the most tormenting one; the sadhak undergoes various physical and spiritual tests. They have to starve, do back-breaking exercises, and their genitals are slowly beaten-up while chanting Vedic mantras (done to make their sexual desires inactive).
Once an individual clears all the three stages and fulfills all the needed requirements, only then they are initiated into the sect.
After the initiation, they are conferred with the title of ‘Naga’. The Diksha ceremony takes palce at Kumbh Mela where the sadhus undergo a group ‘mundan’ (head shaving ceremony) and perform their last rites.
Last rites or ‘pind daan’ is the stepping stone into a new life for an ascetic. After renouncing earthly pleasures, the only aim of a naga’s life is to defend sanatan dharma.
Most of my evenings were spent at the akhadas, interacting and learning about the lives of these sadhus who come from afar, many of whom who live a life of solidarity and abstinence. The Maha Mandaleshwar has a list of all the sadhus with their names and their current locations. That is, many of them live in caves in the Himalayas, and nobody knows their address except the Maha Mandleshwar who stays in contact with them. After the fair is over all the naga sadhus are given some packs of dry fruits and fruits and they disappear again until the next call from their respective gurus.
One of the more interesting characters of a story is a 64 year old saint who wore a stetson hat, and told me more about the world, to the baba who had who had been standing for 8 years and had another 4 to go, a baba who kept his arm raised since the last 18 years to bring world peace and a rabdiwale baba who used to make rabdi for those who chose to visit him, there are many mystical stories as you make your way around.
Food arrangements throughout the Mela are pure vegetarian. Millions of people come to the Kumbh but not a single person sleeps without eating food during the entire 3 months of the festival.
And this post would be incomplete without mentioning the commendable job done by the police and military officials. They work 24/7 to make sure everyone is safe. The river has cleaner water as compared to before and the arrangements were excellent with bio-toilets helping maintain cleanliness in the Kumbh city. Kudos to the government for this mammoth task!
