The Maha Kumbh Mela 2025…
The world largest cultural festival.
The Maha Kumbh Mela is reported to be the world’s largest gathering and the largest cultural festival that is holding Uttar Pradesh in India at this moment. According to government sources, there are about 400 million devotees who participate in this mega festival. It happens where the three sacred rivers, Yamuna, Ganges and Saraswathi met each other. Though the Saraswathi river has dried up and is not really present anymore, many believed it to be flowing under the Ganges river. This confluence is situated at Prayagraj which was called ” Allahabad” until 2018. The Uttar Pradesh government decided to change the name ” Allahabad” to ” Prayagraj”. Actually, the Indian nationalist party ” Bhartiya Janatha Party” (BJP) raised the issue that the Muslim mughal emperor Akbar was the person who named Allahabad 435 years ago. According to history, the Chinese traveler Huan Tsang in 643 AD discovered “Prayag” which is now called Prayagraj. Prayagraj is considered the most important pilgrimage place for Hindus.
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This Hindu religious pilgrimage and the festival is to be celebrated four times over 12 years, in four locations. This time the festival started on 13th of January and goes on until 26 of February. This is the first time this festival is being held under the BJP leadership in power after it changed the area’s Muslim name of Allahabad to the Hindu Prayagraj. The governmental influence for this festival could be too high, while many are skeptical about the government’s prediction of 400 millions of participation for the festival, which is almost a third of India’s population, and many say it is highly impossible.
However Mr. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, heavily depending on the Hindu vote based, suffered a bitter and humiliating set back at the last general election. BJP was able to win 240 seats out of 543. However, BJP managed to gain an alliance to get the majority seats. So the ruling nationalist party, BJP, is the one who might want to get back in the people’s support to face the next election. Perhaps, Maha Kumbh festival would be favorable for them to win over the people’s hearts again. In 2023, the BJP government changed the country’s name of India to ” Bharat”. Bharat is an ancient Sanskrit name and the name “India” is believed to be a British name as well as some Indian people believe the India as a “symbol of slavery”.
above image source_https://media.mahakumbh.in/media/2024/06/24144819/Kalpvasis-Experience-with-mahakumbh.in_.webp
However, this mega festival is a one in a life time event for specially Hindu pilgrims, the government of India, and the other patronage organizations who provided many facilities to the festival location. There are 160,000 tents that include the facilities of water, sewage and electricity. There are also 150,000 portable toilet facilities supplied too. Indian railway has introduced nearly 1000 trains. Temporary hospitals, food shops, first aids and number of facilities have been provided by the government. The Indian state government put 64 billion rupees towards the infrastructure for the mega festival. Meanwhile there are also luxurious tents available for those who can offer around 1200$ per night.
above image source_https://www.thekumbhyatra.com/_next/image/?url=%2Fimages%2Fkumbh-mela-prayagraj.webp&w=1920&q=75
Those who are supposed to participate in the Maha Kumbh festival are to be marked by a ritual dip in the waters (Holy bath), and the Amrit Snan, where Naga Sadhus are to be given the first chance to bathe. The other religious discourses by saints ( chanting mantras), mass gatherings of religious monks would be key items in the festival and also entertainment with dancing, singing, and preaching would be in abundance. It would be a totally colorful, astounding mega event one can only see once in a life time.
According to news sources, the Maha Kumbh festival is held once in 144 years, and is considered the ultimate spiritual experience for the Hindus.
