A Journey Through Faith at Kumbh Mela

Another religious place is in front of you, being a Hindu it is my duty to present the teachings of my culture and religion to you. Taking this series forward, today I am going to present to you the glimpses of the Kumbh Mela 2021 journey. The covid-19 lockdown in India had just ended after which this Kumbh Mela was organized which was held on the holy land of Uttarakhand, Haridwar means 'Gate of God' and every Hindu, believing this to be true, became a part of this great festival. Let us know how I became a part of this huge religious fair.

Let me tell you a little about the present day, from today Maha Kumbh 2025, which is organized once in 12 years in India, is being organized. Kumbh Mela is organized in Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik, this year this event is being organized in Prayagraj, Uttarakhand, which was earlier also known as Allahabad. This Maha Kumbh of faith will start on Paush Purnima (13 January 2025) and will be completed on 26 February 2025.

After 144 years, such a coincidence has happened that the time gap between Ardh Kumbh and Maha Kumbh has reduced by only 3 years. Earlier Maha Kumbh was organized in 2013 and Ardh Kumbh was organized in 2019, meaning there was a gap of 6 years which has been reduced to only 3 years this time. Apart from this, astrologers say that during this Maha Kumbh, 6 planets will come in a line which is a holy and sacred coincidence which will happen during this fair.

Let's go from 2025 to 2021 where I decided to go to the Kumbh of faith and take a bath in the river Ganga. After the lockdown that was going on since 2020, finally the government gave some relaxation due to which Kumbh was organized in Haridwar. Online bus booking could not be done because all the portals were closed due to covid-19 whereas at such a time online portals should be working so that we can avoid contact with people. Anyway, I took a taxi from home and reached Delhi Kashmiri Gate from where I had to get a bus.

I booked the ticket from the ticket window and boarded the 8 pm bus to Haridwar which will drop me at Haridwar in 6 hours. The distance from Delhi to Haridwar is 228 km. Since winters have not completely gone yet, I had prepared myself for the winter, carrying a camera in one bag and my warm clothes in the other, I had set out alone on this religious journey which I did not know for how long it would last. I had surrendered myself to this process that whatever happens next will be God's will.

The bus reaches me at Haridwar Chowk but due to Kumbh Mela all the buses have to go back where a new bus stand has been built. The bus drops us 5 km back from where all the passengers had to walk to 'Har Ki Pauri' which took me about an hour and a quarter. By now it was 4 am and I needed a place to sleep so that I could be ready for Kumbh the next morning. When I could not find a room near 'Har Ki Pauri', I had to go 5 km back where I found a clean room for INR 500.

After keeping my luggage, I did not do anything and went into a deep sleep thinking that tomorrow I will take a bath in the holy Ganga. In the morning, my eyes opened with the chanting of 'Har Har Mahadev'. When I went out, I saw that sadhus and mahatmas were getting ready to take a bath in the river Ganga. Seeing them, I also got excited and after quickly freshening up, I also took my camera and a bag with bathing clothes and left. Of course, I did not get a chance to bathe with the sadhus but my experience was very religious and sacred.

The streets of Haridwar were echoing with the chanting of 'Har Har Mahadev'. The atmosphere was such that there was hardly any muscle in the body that was not twitching. Blood was boiling and every hair on the body stood up. The overflowing energy here took control of all the devotees. Sadhus and Mahatmas were preparing themselves by applying ash from the incense on their bodies, while some Sadhus and Mahatmas were decorating their bodies with garlands of marigold flowers.

Some Sadhus and Mahatmas had hair longer than their bodies in which they had filled ash, some were carrying tridents, maces, tiger claws and whips. The echo coming from the conch shell was telling everyone that the Mahatmas had left for bathing in the Ganga. I too was walking along with them and I knew that I could follow them only up to a point, beyond which these people would be alone and no common man could go there.

There are some levels in Hinduism, the ones who attain them are called Mahamandaleshwar, each Akhara had its Mahamandaleshwar riding on a chariot while some were born Sadhus and some were riding horses. All the sadhus are followers of Lord Shiva, so all the sadhus follow the footsteps of Lord Shiva and paint themselves with ash and keep long dreadlocks and never cut them. Damru is being played and it seems as if nature is dancing to its sound.

Many sadhus are crying in their senses and sometimes laughing, some are doing tandav like Lord Shiva and look very scary. Government helicopters are flying above us which are showering flowers on these sadhus, some flowers fall on me too. Now all the sadhus have done the parikrama of 'Har Ki Pauri' and finally the time has come for holy bath in river Ganga. Now all the sadhus have gone away from the reach of common public to take royal bath.

The royal bath of sadhus takes about 3 hours after which common public gets a chance to take bath in Ganga. Since I am alone and I have a camera too, I face a little problem as there is no cloakroom here where I can deposit my luggage. Anyway, I keep my luggage on the banks of the Ganga. I am travelling by train which is a risk because there is so much crowd here that if someone gets separated from his/her companion then it is very difficult to find him/her.

The dates of Shahi Snan of Haridwar were as follows, 11 March, 12 April, 14 April and 27 April. I participated in the second snan which was held on 12 and 14 April. I stayed in Haridwar for a whole week and after bathing in Ganga every morning and evening, I walked several kms on the banks of Ganga every day. I will always remember this walk. The religious energy floating here will always remain in my heart and even today after 4 years, I can feel this energy within me.

I have a great desire to participate in the Maha Kumbh of 2025 which is being organized after 144 years and will last for 50 days and I am trying my best to take out some time and dedicate myself to this holy event for a few days. Events like Maha Kumbh are a unique proof of our Indian tradition that we are a very ancient civilization which has preserved its existence even after bad times till date. I hope you liked this post, in the end I would like to say “Har Har Mahadev”.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from canon 77D and edited in lightroom, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.