Immersed in Faith - Mahakumbh. Illahabad.

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. The account goes that the Devas had lost their strength by the curse of Durväsä Muni. After praying to Lord Vishnu, he instructed them to churn the ocean of milk Ksheera Sagara (primordial ocean of milk) to receive amrita (the nectar of immortality). They made a temporary agreement with their archenemies, the Asuras, to work together with a promise of sharing the wealth equally. But, when the Kumbha (urn) containing the amrita appeared, a fight ensued. in the sky for the pot of amrita. It is believed that during the battle, Lord Vishnu (incarnated as Mohini-Mürti) flew away with the Kumbha of elixir spilling drops of amrita at four places: Allahabad (Prayag), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.

​​Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. That's all I knew courtesy Wikipedia until I reached after a 46-hour journey to the soil of heritage, in Prayag.

Still holding all my luggage to myself, I almost collapsed as I touched the soil of Kumbh. I still have no answer why I felt so overwhelmed then. The vastness through which the mela was spread across 31 kms and 14 sectors put wheels on my legs and I walked every inch in the span of 3 days, watching late night leelas, chatting up with Ajit Kumar from the RSF, wandering through day & night in a quest to experience something I never had. I even spotted the neatly organized Post Box office from where I put our IPS to test, my dear friend received my letter after 4 weeks and was overjoyed, even more than me. When people inevitably asked the question - how was it? I could only answer "very revealing" all the time. I witnessed spirituality in its true sense, which had nothing to do with God. There was an unmistakable air though, during my short tenure of 3 days – the air of belief – in the power that connected everyone, in fellow human beings who chose a different path than you, in the mythology that we have only heard time & again, different versions each time.

It was beyond me how from thousands to millions of people carried this same belief, not only in Kumbh but in the city of Illahabad. And to find that belief intact in one piece, was an experience that still gives me the shudders. It was also a good chance to see and experience what I had only heard so far of naga babas, and sadhus and aghoris, happily blowing away their chillams and making a buck or two offering it to you if they liked you. I didn’t need to drag myself out of the Mela to catch my late noon train to Bombay. The official caught hold of my collar since I was a nuisance clicking people’s emotional rituals on the banks of Ganges. 

As I was politely asked to leave, I couldn’t ask for a better exit to watch a procession head to the banks. I don’t know why even though a lot of it looked staged, some part of me had already joined the belief.