The Worlds Largest Religious Fair- Kumbh Mela

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The world’s largest religious fair

The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu bathing festival, is the world’s greatest religious event attracting lakhs of devotees from all over the country. This festival is held every 12 years by rotation at Allahabad or Prayag where the Ganga converges with the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati; at Nashik on the banks of the Godavari; at Hardwar on the Ganga, and at Ujjain where the Sipra flows.

The Kumbh Mela is as old as the Vedas, yet so distinct, myriad and ancient, that it moved Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese traveller, to write extensively about it in his memoirs. He had attended the Allahabad Kumbh Mela 1300 years ago as a guest of King Harshavardhana of Kannauj.

According to a legend, gods and demons are said to have shared between them 13 gems that emerged during the churning of the great ocean. The fourteenth, the kumbh (pot) of nectar that gives immortality, was taken by the Gods with the demons in hot pursuit. In the flight, a few drops of the nectar fell at the four places where now the Kumbh Melas are held. It is believed that a holy dip at these places at an auspicious time, washes away sins and releases one from the cycle of birth and rebirth. This deep-rooted conviction makes the young and old, men and women, sadhus and yogis congregate in lakhs at these revered melas.