My first impression of the Mahakumbh mela was this traffic of uncertainty whirling furiously in my mind. I tried to take my mind far away, as far as the quaint sunny beaches of Sri Lanka and Mauritius. In the end, I found myself standing before this breathless, indescribable sea of humanity moving together slowly and mechanically at Prayagraj, in a bitterly cold and foggy morning.
Coming from a small hill town, with less than 5 lakh population and the entire state’s 30 lakh population, here I was standing before 2 crore people! The ground beneath my feet slipped away and I froze watching this massive, massive crowd from a distance.
In my light-headed moment, it looked like these people were being churned by some energy, after being bound in serpentine lines, just like in the legends. The sound of this churning was intimidating, like a massive waterfall thundering down, but after a while, something in me found this sound strangely soothing.
Legends say, after the Samundra Manthan (churning of the ocean with the snake Vasuki) by the devas and asuras, the amrit (elixir to attain immortality) was extracted and then a fight erupted. The demons fled with the amrit and Vishnu taking the form of a woman (Mohini) tricked the asuras and regained the amrit.
However, when Vishnu was carrying the kumbh (pot) with the amrit, the asuras persuaded him and during the flight four drops of amrit spilled. It's believed these drops fell on earth at four places - Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain- hence the Kumbhmela.
The Kumbh mela has journeyed through 1000s of years and is old as memory and young as today. The 2025 Mahakumbh at Prayagraj is significant because as per the Hindu almanac, the stars and other celestial bodies have joined hands in a specific way after 144 years!
By the way, from a distance the view of the mela turned into an elixir for the body and soul. Tiredness, fear, sadness, culture shock melted in this mass churning. The serenity, bonhomie and joy all around in the atmosphere was upliftingly infectious.
After observing the phenomenon for quite some time and catching hold of the breath, I too jumped into this sea of people and waded through. My pace too became slow and rhythmic with that of the crowd. Time slowed down and now there was clarity, frame by frame.
This multitude of people was in colourful, palish, shiny attire - you name it they were there. Some wore garlands of marigold, rudraksh. Others wore pendants, jewellery, amulets. Sandalwood paste, tilak, ash, vermilion smeared on the forehead. Some held tridents, others kumbh, bags, bundles of clothes, while many more, their children, old parents, partners or friends. I held on tightly to my guide.
There were sadhus in saffron, yellow, black and blue. But none could match the whole spectrum of the Naga sadhus. The ash smeared on the body (sometimes it's blue), the dark-golden brown, black dreadlocks tied on top of the head decked with rudraksh or marigold, complemented with garland of marigold and more rudraksh. The eyeballs were searing red, but seemed to be in a constant churn into some deep blue ocean of thought and spirituality. In short, the crowd was like a rainbow of rainbows.
The numbed senses too started to blossom. I could now hear conches being blown, pilgrims with cymbals singing devotional songs, some were chanting, others talking, laughing. The distant waterfall was now part of the ocean and wave after wave of sound hit me and mostly for the elixir to attain moksha.
Several pilgrims were also carrying head loads consisting items of worship, cookware, utensils, blankets, clothes and many other items. Despite that they moved with ease (just like the water flow in the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati to reach the larger oceans.)
“Gangamaiya ka upar se joota ya chapal nehi pehenteh (people don't wear footwear while crossing mother Ganga,)” my young guide explained while pointing to the scores of pilgrims walking barefoot. Some of these pilgrims walked nearly 6-7 km or even more to reach the Sangam (where the Ganga, Yamuna and the Saraswati confluences).
After crossing the serpentine bridges over the Ganga River the vortex of people, of all colour, age and gender, spiralled everywhere. They were bathing, cooking, feasting, praying, chanting, singing, talking, laughing, many in deep meditation and others just basking on the river bank. Curiously there was no haste.
There were stalls with vendors selling piping hot tea, snacks and other eatables to challenge the chilly and foggy morning. There were little girls balancing on ropes - trying to make their way from one end of poverty to the other end of prosperity. Stalls sold flowers and garlands. The air wafted with fragrances that reminded me of some happy moments - which I can't recall now.
There were no priests to conduct any rituals and all one had to do is take a dip and feel free. Humans from all over the world, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion, were welcome and the mela screamed Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family.)
This whole world spread across 40 square kilometre wide demarcated into 25 spiritual sectors. Each sector had its own lanes and bylanes with names. If someone covered all these lanes and bylanes they would be covering a distance of over 400 km! It’s easy to get lost in this spiritual maze and find or lose oneself.
The police were trained to take care and manage the crowd of individual sectors and they performed outstandingly. Never came across such friendly police personnel in my life - while we can only guess how stressed they were managing 2 crore people.
In these sectors there were ashrams of different sects, akharas, religious organisations and of course the Naga sadhus. Religious discourses were going on in several places, conducted by Gurus. Every ashram made pandals that looked like huge temples, palaces - one different from the other.
Here again the beauty of the Kumbhmela is that some pandals were very austere and some gaudy and there is nothing wrong with it as my guide explained once more. "Aap jo chese mein khush hoteh ho woh karo, lekin kisi aur ko taklif nehi honeh chahiyeh." (Do whatever pleases you, but also ensure it doesn't hurt others)
So some of these sadhus came riding on tractors complete with thrones, motifs of gods and goddesses. Some rode on horses, camels, elephants and a few zipped around on Harley Davidsons! The Naga sadhus had some of the flashiest, biggest chariots. The complexity of human nature and spirituality is such that the Naga sadhus are content covering their bodies with just ash, but sit on colourful chariots, horses, elephants, camels or bikes.
Getting into the akharas of the Naga sadhus is quite exhilarating. Inside, there are huts and tents and Naga sadhus sat before these performing yagna. Others were in deep meditation or simply holding meetings or panchayats with people hearing their grievances and giving spiritual advice. There were also young Naga Sadhu interns, some as young as 10-11 years old!
In the evening while returning, the mela area from the same vantage point looked like a sky filled with stars, the whole galaxy and much more beyond.
The kumbhmela was a passport for people to find meaning to their lives and it held different meanings for different people. For the devotees it was an occasion to look heavenwards for a drop of moksha. For the professionals it was a spectacle, an occasion to pixelate moments.
For those burdened with life, it offered relief with a dip of salvation. For the artistic kind, it was a Monalisa moment - a brush with a masterpiece. For an entrepreneur, it was business as usual.
The Mahakumbh Mela was something I wanted to see and experience - like the child who sits nervously and also excitedly peering out of the window in an unusual and lonely afternoon with sunshine through rain. He wants to get a glimpse and also take part in the foxes' wedding. So for the lonely traveller, the Kumbhmela was also the foxes’ wedding.
At the Kumbhmela it rained and rained people and all shone brightly with joy. It was like a celestial rainbow joining heaven with earth. I am yet to see many parts of the world, but somehow I am certain that the world I saw at Prayagraj, over a period of two days, was simply out of this world.
