RELIGION-INDIA: Biggest Ever Human Gathering Opens

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 2001 (IPS) - The biggest human gathering ever began Tuesday as millions of Hindus converged in the north Indian city of Allahabad for a soul-cleansing dip at the meeting point of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers.

Tuesday’s dip in the holy rivers, was timed with one of the six special auspicious occasions during the 42-day ‘Kumbha Mela’ (the fair of the pot).

Held once every 12 years, the event has been promoted by travel agencies across the world as the first Kumbha of the millennium. Howver, orthodox Hindus do not follow the Christian calendar.

An estimated 80 million people from across the world are epxected to wade into the chilly winter waters of the rivers to perform the Hindu ritual during this period.

On Jan. 24, when the new moon begins, at least 30 million people are expected to be in Allahabad, 650 km east of here, to immerse themselves while chanting ‘mantras’ (sacred incantations).

Officials in charge of the Kumbha, say they plan to allow only 30,000 people to get into the water for about a minute at a time. This is necessary to ensure that no one misses the opportunity.

The Allahabad Kumbha Mela is the biggest and most important of the four such religious festivals held also in the northern Himalayan foothill city Haridwar, and the central Indian towns of Ujjain and Nasik.

According to mythological legend, all four sites were blessed by drops spilling out of a pot full of the ‘elixir of immortality’ when the gods and demons fought over it.

Contact with the water at these holy sites when the heavens open up because of rare planetary configurations, is believed to confer immortality.

One of the earliest documented accounts of the Kumbha Mela in Allahabad is to be found in the record of a personal visit by the ancient Chinese traveller and historian Tsuan Tsang.

News reports from Allahabad Tuesday said that fewer than expected people took the dip by noon — less than three million.

Men, women and children followed the ‘sadhus’ (Hindu ascetics) into the confluence of the muddy red waters of the Himalayan rivers Ganges with the blue-green Yamuna.

Organising such an event involves an extraordinary effort of human crowd management.

The crush of tens of thousands of people at a time on narrow river banks, has led to tragedies in the past. A stampede in the Allahabad Kumbha Mela held in the year 1954 left at least 500 dead.

According to N.S. Saksena, an authority on Kumbh Mela disasters, authorities are strictly complying with the suggetions in a report of an inquiry into the 1954 disaster.

However, this time authorities have to tackle a different perceived threat — from Kashmiri ‘Jehadists’ (Islamic fighters).

Units of the army, backed by sniffer dogs and mine-detectors, have joined armed police and special riot control squads. Some 7,000 security personnel have been deployed.

The famous procession of ‘nagas’ (naked ascetics covered only with sacred ash), who will lead the Jan. 24 dip, will be escorted by armed security force commandos riding jeeps and flanked by mounted policemen.

Authorities are also worried about the declared plan of radical Hindu groups to display a model of the temple they propose to build at the site of the destroyed Babri mosque in northern Ayodhya town.

The December 1992 demolition of the medieval mosque by Hindu zealots triggered countrywide Hindu-Muslim clashes that killed hundreds of people.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Forum) — an affiliate of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — will show the model at the Kumbha Mela.

Supporters of the VHP will gather at the Kumbha site on Jan. 19, when the VHP is expected to announce a date for starting construction of the temple in Ayodhya.

Another danger is to public health from the huge gathering and some 6,000 public toilets have been set up. Special arrangements have been made to clear away the mountains of garbage expected to be generated.

Everything at the Kumbha is on a giant scale, starting with the huge canvas city of tents. These vary from simple ones pitched by individuals, to huge marquees set up by travel agencies cashing in on an unusal rush of tourists and foreign visitors.

The ‘Times of India’ newspaper reported Tuesday that a number of Western entertainment industry celebrities are to visit the Kumbha in Allahabad. Among those expected are Hollywood stars Pierce Brosnan, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and pop star Madonna.

Most of the pilgrims will reach Allahabad by train.

“All leave is on hold, officials are working round the clock and there is a separate non-profit budget to get the pilgrims to their destinations,” said Chandralekha Mukherjee, spokesperson for the Indian Railways.