For the last couple of months we have been captivated by the nagas and Holy men and millions and millions of every day pilgrims from across India who have been converging on the Ganges near Allahabad to bathe. Sadly though, as of this weekend, the Kumbh Mela 2013 is over. We have prepared a couple of videos (see links below) and here is our re-cap as this incredible spectacle, the largest gathering in the world came to a close.
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The logistics of putting on such a major event includes crowd control. This naga is relaxed and happy to please the crowds during his bathing day but nagas typically live a very different lifestyle, well away away from every day people and some get pretty impatient, sometimes violent when faced with hordes of people wanting to be blessed, to speak to them, to disturb them from what they have come to the Ganges to do. The police have a tough job balancing the wishes of everyone but sadly, there were fatalities.
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| It is impossible to capture the mood of millions and millions of people, (some say the total over the period exceeds 80 million and 30 million pilgrims bathe on the main Royal Bathing Day), down on the Ganges. The noise, the excitement and the spiritual commitment to bathe on these particularly auspicious days are quite extraordinary. Lots of male haircuts take place before the bathing, with hair being donated to the rivers along with coins. Ingenious kids rig up magnets to then go and retrieve the coins! |
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| Despite thousands of temporary loos for the public and all the loos at the miles and miles of temporary camps that are put up solely for the event, it's impossible to have sufficient capacity, sanitation is a real issue given the 80 million plus people. Studies have shown the pollution of the river definitely picks up after the festival which isn't surprising, and it's not from people doing their ablutions directly in the river, it's due to seepage and run off from the soil into the river. Sadly, thousands of children lose their parents in the crowds and parents lose grandparents and some of these losses are 'losses'. It becomes a bit of a dumping ground for the poor who cannot make ends meet and the 'lost party' is often illiterate and cannot explain where they live as it is often many states away and they have never been away from home before. Throughout the Kumbh Mela, a lady is heard announcing all the lost and founds on the loud speaker. With no social security, the lost kids and grandparents, if not re-united, have to fend for themselves, whichever way is possible. How terribly tragic is that? Hanging out with some of the Holy men, especially the nagas who live naked lives, was particularly interesting. Mostly good natured, they kindly gave us an insight into their usual lifestyle. |
The strength of the Holy men is proved by various feats: lying in thorns, living with your hand raised, not cutting finger nails and some really unusual feats by the naked nagas! See the videos for those party tricks!
On February 16th, thankfully the day after the last of the three really big Royal Bathing Days (when all the sadhus bathe), the heavens opened up and it rained heavily, non-stop for almost 24 hours. Dare I say it, it was Biblical rain which was worth photographing - we must pull out the shots we took. This made life at the camps pretty miserable, so many of our tents were flooded, let alone the very basic camps. A lot of the sadhus took the opportunity to pack up and start heading back home and to the routined lifestyle they really prefer. Pilgrims continued to come and go, bathing in the Holy Ganges and now, it really is all over for another three years but we're already planning our next adventure with the nagas and babas!
Here are a couple of short videos we put together on this year's Kumbh.
Namaste.
Julie and Adam
March 2013
