Why the magic of Kumbh worked

With the Unesco recognising Kumbh Mela as intangible cultural heritage, SUJATA PRASAD re-assesses how the living tradition reinforces humanity

Heritage lovers have a reason to celebrate. On July 12, the walled city of Ahmedabad was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. On October 31, Chennai, famed for its spectacular music and dance heritage, waltzed into UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as the creative city of music. And on December 7, the Inter-government Committee for safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage under the Paris-based UN body inscribed Kumbh Mela on the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The South Korean island of Jeju, where the meeting was held, jazzed up for the results. This year’s choices were as eclectic as ever and saw Kumbh Mela being paired with Pizzaiuolo, the Neopolitan art of pizza twirling, Bangladesh’s art of Shital Pati weaving, Bolivian ritual journeys in La Paz, the Basel Carnival among others.

The list of intangible cultural treasures was created in 2003 with the aim of ensuring protection of international cultural heritage worldwide, acknowledging that cultural heritage encompasses traditions and living expressions. The Kumbh Mela has been recognised “as the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth. It is a social ritual and festive event closely linked to the community’s perception of its own history and memory, compatible with existing international human rights instruments since people from all walks of life, without any discrimination participate in the festival with equal fervour. As a religious festival, the tolerance and inclusiveness that Kumbh Mela demonstrates are especially valuable for the contemporary world.”

The Mela commemorates a mythical battle between gods and demons over a pitcher of the nectar of immortality. Lord Vishnu, disguising himself as the enchantress Mohini, seized the pitcher, passing it to his winged mount, Garuda. As Garuda fled with the pitcher across the skies, a few drops of nectar spilled at Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nasik. The Kumbh Mela takes place four times every 12 years in these four locations and once every 12 years the Maha Kumbh, arguably the biggest gathering of humans, is held.

Nearly a hundred million people gather at Allahabad alone on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti to immerse themselves in the waters of the Yamuna, Ganga and the mythical Saraswati rivers, levitating with joy. The Ardh Kumbh is held at Haridwar and Allahabad every sixth year. The locations follow the sequence of star alignments. Hence, when Jupiter enters Aquarius and Sun enters Aries, the Kumbh is held at Haridwar.

The Kumbh Mela’s congregation of devotees finds mention in the 7th century anecdotes of Chinese monk and traveller-scholar Hiuen Tsang. The congregation certainly has grown in numbers over the centuries but the sight of naked, ash-smeared sadhus charging into the water for their ritual dip seems frozen in time. The Kumbh attracts sadhus from ashrams and akhadas and temple-trusts like the Trayambakeshwar. Hundreds of photographers and camera crews with their tripods and telephoto lenses gather at the festival to take cinematic shots of sadhus smoking weed or doing special penance sitting inside rings of smouldering cow dung, of saffron-clad sadhvis arriving at the river front in a procession, of people getting together to cleanse themselves of their sins and celebrate their liberation from the cycle of life and death — catching one wonderfully evocative moment after another.

In the vast tented city that is created, inconveniences don’t seem to matter. Contending with pushing, jostling crowds in overcrowded trains and buses, devotees arrive at the venue and spend the day listening to the chanting of Vedic mantras and devotional songs and watching the traditional procession of the akhadas on elephant backs and colourful chariots, finding intimacy and emotional reinforcement in the surge of humanity drawn together by the intensity of the experience.

As night falls they huddle under their shawls and blankets, ignoring blaring loudspeakers and near-zero temperatures, rising before dawn to plunge into icy waters. The guru shishya parampara of ashrams and akhadas bridges the chasm of time and remains one of the most important ways of transmitting knowledge and rituals from generation to generation.

Given the scale at which the Kumbh Melas are organised, they have been relatively mishap-free. It is the job of the district administration to ensure that lives are not put on hold. Incidents like the one at the Allahabad railway station on February 11, 2013, when a last-minute change in the platform triggered panic, leading to footbridge collapse and many fatalities, have been rare.

There are, however, some serious concerns about the increasing toxicity in the four rivers that form the backbone of the Mela — Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari and Shipra. Public interest litigations filed by local NGOs have focused attention on the need for elimination of plastic-based products and ritual offerings. In Nasik, there has been a special Green Kumbh drive to raise awareness about water pollution, with outreach in local schools and colleges. These efforts would need to be scaled up in the coming years to meet the exacting expectations that coveted recognitions of this kind create in a globalised world.

Sujata Prasad, an author and civil servant is currently Additional Secretary, Culture