What is the Kumbh Mela?
–> The greatest of the Indian spiritual fairs, the Kumbh Mela has held the imagination of the devout, the spiritual researcher and sightseer alike from time immemorial. It is held once every three years by rotation, on the banks of river Shipra in Ujjain, on the Ganga in Haridwar, at the Trymbakeshwar Temple in Nasik, and on the confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati in Prayagraj, Allahabad. A key aim of the devout who visit the Kumbh is to have darshan of the holy men who come from all over India the ascetics, saints and sadhus listening to them and receiving their blessings on the journey towards spiritual enlightenment. For most, it is once-in-a-lifetime experience. Seventh-century Shaivite philosopher and spiritual guru Adi Shankaracharya is credited with initiating the Kumbh fair as a spiritual congress for ascetics and spiritual scholars for the rishis, munis, sadhus and yogis to gather and deliberate the finer points of the spiritual thought and practice,
During the Hindu festival, Kumbh Mela, millions of people congregate to bathe in the waters of certain rivers on auspicious days to cleanse their souls. Depending on the year of the 12-year cycle, sages, yogis, and devotees gather in temporary cities for a month of music, dancing, prayers, and ceremonies. Based on the ancient doings of gods who consecrated four sites along the banks of rivers with the honey of immortality, Kumbh Mela is the Hindu equivalent of a holy pilgrimage. As the story goes, there was a pot, the kumbh, full of the elixir or nectar of immortality. Yet the gods fought over who got to carry the pot, and in the process, four drops fell at four different places. These came to be known as Prayag, Hardiwar, Ujjain, and Nasik, and they correspond to the four Kumbh Melas that take place every three years. On astrologically propitious days, determined by the paths of planets, the nectar is said to return to these rivers so that bathing in them will bring peace and purifica
