Real Life Account from the Magha Mela in Allahabad

If you are still wondering about the title yes there is a Magh Mela that happens in Allahabad every year even if there is a Kumbha Mela happening in any of the other 3 places in India…

The main reason for people visiting Allahabad is to take a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam. It is believed that taking a bath here washes away ones sins and grants liberation (Moksha).The Triveni Sangam is the confluence of three of the most revered rivers of India – The Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. We had decided to take a bath here during the Magh Mela which is the annual festival of Allahabad held during the months of Jan-Feb. It is also known as the ‘Mini Kumbh’ as it gets converted to the ‘Maha Kumbh Mela’ every 12 Years. Every day hundreds of people come to take a bath in the purifying waters of the Sangam. But the number increases manifold during this time of the year. This year, though, the Mela held special significance due to the occurrence of Makar Sankranti on the 14th Jan and the coincidence of Mauni Amavasya following the Grahan (Solar eclipse) on the 15th. We were to bathe on these two special days. On both the days my experience was more or less the same except that on the 15th, we had waited for the eclipse to get over to take the bath.

I was a bit apprehensive since I had heard that about 10-20 lakh pilgrims will be taking a bath at the Sangam on the 2 days combined. Finally on the 14th - The Makar Sankrant Day, braving the cold (around 5-8 deg. Cel), I prepared myself both mentally as well as physically to proceed for the Snan (holy bath/dip) at 7 a.m. My mother was the most excited of us, leading and guiding us from the front. The boats which are the most popular mode of transport to the Sangam were closed by the government to avoid unwanted local crowd. We, therefore, hired a cycle rick who dropped us some good 2-3 kms away from the Sangam at a place known as the Minto Park, as vehicles beyond this point were not allowed. Rest of the distance everyone had to cover on foot. From that place, till the eyes could see and beyond, the entire stretch of land leading up to the Sangam, resembled an enormous sea of pilgrims and I could sense my apprehensions come true. But my notions were soon dispelled as I walked the 2 km long journey.

While walking I could see many people carrying sacks containing their belongings, I guess, on their heads walking for miles, having come from all over India. There were people of all ages, genders, babies clinging to their parents, saffron and yellow clad sadhus (sages), and policemen shouting instructions to the devotees. I saw stalls selling everything from tea, fruits, chats, prasads, flowers, diyas even plastic bottles to fill the water of the holiest of the holy. There were puppet shows for the kids, an amusement park, shops selling clothing items like dress materials from Surat, sarees from Banaras, traditional footwear and jewelry from Rajasthan and much more.

The ‘Bhule Bhatke Shivir’ (Lost and Found Camp) loudspeakers were continuously blaring out new names of the people who had got separated from their near and dear ones. I saw people holding onto whatever piece of clothing they could get their hands on of their relatives so that they don’t get separated. The famous hindi film cliché ‘Mele mein bichda hua bhai’ dawned on me and I found the grip of my hand on my brothers jacket tighten. Living in a crowded suburb of Mumbai and having experienced the crowds first hand, I have to admit I had never seen anything like what was before me that day. The sheer number of people overwhelmed me. But it was all well managed as there were numerous entry and exit points and people generally stuck to the Keep Left rule.

Nearing the Sangam, I saw many yellow, blue and white colored tents spread across large areas on both sides of the road. It seemed like a whole city full of tents had come up. My mother told me that people who do Kalpvaas Vrata stay here. I recollected a conversation my father had with a co-passenger in the train while we were coming here. Aged between 55-60 years, we were amazed to know that he was visiting the place to do Kalpvaas. It changed my perception that only Sadhus and Babas do so. People doing Kalpvaas are known as Kalpvaasis and stay in tents for the entire duration of the Mela. He told us that they are required to take a bath at the holy Sangam before sunrise and again before sunset. They eat only once a day so that rest of the day they can devote to meditations, bhajans, sermons and offering prayers to God. For more information on the Kalpavaas Vrata refer the site – http://www.kalpavasi.com/

Besides the Kalpvaasis, many sages, yogis and religious gurus had set up their camps , all adding a different dash of color and a distinct flavour to this unique festival. Religious talks and devotional songs could be heard blaring on the loudspeakers that had been put up by some of these camps. The famed Pandaas were not to be left behind. There were some entire colonies dedicated to them. They could be identified by distinct symbols drawn on fluttering flags. We tried finding ours but could not locate him and proceeded further. The city of tents had something for everyone from markets to eateries even hospitals, all temporarily put up for the event. I could see devotees camped out with women cooking on wood-fires, kneading dough to make chapattis, buying veggies, chatting excitedly, drying clothes and people keeping warm near fires.

An hour passed by and after a tiring but nevertheless stirring walk, we finally reached the Sangam area. Suddenly, the large mob had dispersed to the various ghats spread out in the vast Sangam area and it seemed to me a lot less crowded now. The Triveni Sangam is a confluence of three rivers: the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati as stated earlier. Of these three, I was informed that the River Saraswati is invisible and is said to be flowing beneath the earth and meets the other two rivers from the base. I could easily make out the muddy water of Ganges which was flowing rapidly merging with greenish still water of the Yamuna. The river Yamuna ends at this point while the Ganga continues till it meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal. There were announcements urging the devotees to vacate the ghats as soon as they finish bathing to make way for the next onslaught of bathers. I could see people meditating, performing various rituals, prayers, reading sacred texts, some getting ready for the bath, some coming out shivering after taking a dip, or simply keeping a watch on ones belongings. The one common thing uniting everybody there was The Thread of Faith. However, the sight of little children crying relentlessly being forced to take a bath in such cold water deeply saddened me.



My mother told me that all the Gods are present at the Sangam today and we are blessed to have to have got an opportunity to take a holy dip on the auspicious day which millions other crave for. The meaning of which I realized the moment I arched my back and lowered my head in the spiritually purifying water of the Sangam. I was transcended to a celestial world which crossed all material boundaries. It was an experience which cannot be described in words and can only be felt or understood in person. We all prayed to Maa Ganga and offered holy water to the Sun God to receive His blessings. We then floated a diya and prayed with our eyes closed. Heading back, I saw long bearded turbaned Pandits and poor women along with their children making their way through the crowds asking for donation of clothes, grains and of course money. We too took this opportunity to indulge in some charity. I was told by my mother that any good deed done during this day has a multiplier effect and is ideal for meditation and charity.

Each minute I spent in this captivating carnival was a prayer, every moment of it dipped in divinity; it was truly an expedition of spiritual enlightenment. It is impossible for me to give a picture of everything that was happening in and around the Mela, since my every stride bought with itself a whole new experience. There was so much to see, so much to feel, so much to soak into…believe me, one has to be there , in the midst of it all, to really get a hang of it. Yes, it was crowded and yes it was cold, very cold; but let me assure you of one thing every second of it, is worth a visit.

The Legend of the Holy Rivers of India

The Yamuna is deeply entrenched in the wonderful saga of the birth and childhood of Krishna. Krishna was born in Mathura, a holy city on the banks of the Yamuna and taken across the raging river on a rain-stormy night to Gokul, to be raised by his foster parents Nand and Yashoda. Here, in the pastoral ambience of fragrant gardens and flowers, he grew up as the divine child among cowherds and milkmaids. He romanced with the milkmaids in his Raas Leela on moonlit nights on the banks of the Yamuna and gamboled in her dark waters every day of his life. Yamuna, having touched the blue-toned Krishna, herself became blue in colour in all her portrayals. So also, Krishna being the epitome of romance and love, Yamuna became the river of romance. She was named as his “consort” in Madhurabhakti—a religious cult concurrent with Sufism. Both philosophies decree that “a devotee has only to raise the veil of ignorance to face divinity”. The veiled Yamuna, clad in blue and purple robes and carrying lotuses in her hands, became the Maharani of Krishna, the beloved devotee of his wondrous miracles in Gokul. Through the ages, the portrayals of Yamuna, including a large number of miniature paintings, showed a distinct Sufi influence. As the Maharani of Krishna, she became the eternal bride. Even today, thousands of years later, pilgrims and devotees who trek to Yamunotri—the origin of the river in the Himalayas—offer her bridal fineries with chunris, bangles, tikas and other ornaments.

As she descends into the plains in Himachal Pradesh, Paonta Sahib, the Gurudwara built by Guru Gobind Singh, stands majestically on her banks. Here, legend says, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, lost his paonta or anklet in the river while bathing. Nearby, the Tons River, joining the Yamuna, creates the romantic spectacle of Sahasradhara, where a thousand streams dance down the rocky landscape to create a visual wonder. Further down stands the Taj Mahal, the world’s most resplendent monument, as a testimony to her romantic personality. The Yamuna merges into the Ganga in Prayag.

The Saraswati, confluences with the Ganga and Yamuna in Prayag, is believed to be extinct for ages, though she continues to live in the hearts of Indians. Ever since India attained Independence, teams of archeological researchers have made relentless efforts to excavate several regions of India to find its now-barren bed. Various experts have wagered the guess that she flowed westward from the Himalayas and emptied into the Arabian Sea in Gujarat. Yet, those who wish to seek knowledge and find her origin continue the search for the elusive river. Today, only a roaring torrent named Saraswati can be seen in Mana village near Badrinath in the Himalayas, where she meets the Alaknanda at Keshav Prayag.

The Ganga, the Yamuna and the Saraswati represent the trinity of divinities in Indian culture. Saraswati being Brahma, the creator; Yamuna being Vishnu, the sustainer, and Ganga being Shiva, the destroyer. But most important, this divine trinity is seen as ‘one’ in the confluence of the three rivers at Prayag. For more information on the river Ganga follow this link.

The Narmada has been named the most beautiful river of India by Western travellers like Bill Aitken in his book The Seven Sacred Rivers. Deep, dark and mysterious, the Narmada flows from Amarkantak in the central mountain ranges of India to the Arabian Sea. The forests on her banks are dotted with quaint temple-heritage cities and tribal villages. The river, symbolizing detachment (Vairagya) and surrender, attracts devotees who do the Parikrama or circumambulation of its flow from its origin to its emptying in the sea and back—a distance of 917 kilometres. Pilgrims need more than a year to complete this journey on foot. Describing the dense riverside landscape, they record that on silent nights, as they lie down in the forest groves, they often hear miraculous strains of flutes resonating in the stillness. This ‘music’ is caused by the wind rushing through holes made by birds in the clumps of bamboos which line the river in some areas. On the banks of the Narmada are heritage cities like Mandu, where the tragic love story of the Hindu dancing girl-turned-queen Rani Roopmati and her Muslim poet-emperor husband Baz Bahadur unfolded. Legend says that Roopmati gave up her life by drinking poison rather than be abducted by the king’s lustful enemies. On Narmada’s banks too, stands Maheshwar, the beautiful city built by Rani Ahilayabai, the celebrated Maharani of Indore, who repaired thousands of temples across India, giving up her royal wealth.

The Godavari, rising in Gangadwar near Nashik, represents devotion and its traditional colour: saffron. On her banks are several legendary monuments dedicated to Ram, Sita and Lakshman in addition to the Jyotirlinga temple of Trimbakeshwar. Nasik is also one of the sites of the Kumbha Mela, which has been named the biggest bathing festival on earth! The Godavari brings fertility to the plains of peninsular India and is worshipped as the symbol of single-minded devotion to divinity.

The silvery Kaveri flows through the scenic forested slopes of the Sahyadri and Nilgiri ranges. The river of wisdom, she is referred to as the Dakshina Ganga or the Ganges of the South. Sanctified by presence of Adi Shankaracharya, the greatest philosopher-seer of India, Kaveri is the blessing of South India as she originates in Talaikaveri and flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to empty into the Bay of Bengal. Through the past ages, the banks of the Kaveri have attracted great poets, writers, saints and philosophers who have sought to interpret the multifarious culture and spiritual wisdom of India.

Finally, the River Krishna, symbolizing valour, rises in the boulder-strewn, verdant hills of Mahabaleshwar, and flows through Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, bringing plentitude to her basin, before meeting the Bay of Bengal in the east. Krishna, through the eyes of her undulating green waters, has witnessed many epoch-making chapters of India’s history. The earliest historical reference to this river is as Kannavenna, the southern boundary of the Mauryan Samrat Ashoka’s vast empire in 236 B.C. With a strategy of peace, non-violence and unparalleled valour, Ashoka ruled his great empire to become one of the world’s tallest grand monarchs. The Vijayanagar Empire flourished on her banks in the 13th century and unfolded a golden era of India’s history. From the 17th century, the Marathas, led by Chhatrapati Shivaji, fought many a battle to free India from the clutches of the Moghuls. The Peshwas of Maharashtra built grand monuments and temples on her banks, which even today attract a procession of Bollywood producers to exploit the locations!

Rivers have been the lifelines of India’s ancient, pulsating, throbbing civilization. They have brought prosperity, culture, style, colour, values, wisdom, devotion, knowledge, romance, wonder and above all, a priceless spiritual heritage to the people of India for thousands of years!

The Holy Rivers of India

In India, a river is a mini-cosmos in concept on its own. Every river is considered a mother deity who spawns mythology, art, dance, music, architecture, history and spirituality. Each one has a clear identity, appearance, value, style and spirit compared to a beautiful woman. In all ages and since time immemorial diverse human communities have reinvented themselves on river-banks with fascinating nuances….

“Her shimmering gold-and-white garments dazzle like a thousand suns. The jewels in her crown shine like the crescent moon. Her smiling face lights up the whole world. In her hands, she carries a pot of nectar, the symbol of immortality. Her lotus-fresh presence brings a sense of purity and joy to all beings….” At first glance, this reads like an over-the-top flowery description of a beautiful woman coined by some besotted lover. But to those conversant with the fascinating river-lore of India, this is the mythical portrayal of the River Ganga, written by Sage Valmiki, author of India’s immortal epic Ramayan. It describes the celestial Ganga as she descends from the heavens to the earth to bring salvation to mankind. This story, known as Gangavataran, is such a fundamental tenet of Indian culture that it has held countless generations of Indians in awe for millenniums. The Ganges, arguably the most picturised and written-about river in the world, has been called the Mother of India’s Spirituality and has been immortalized in sculpture, art, literature, poetry, music and dance.

Following her descent to the mortal world to sanctify human efforts to attain salvation, the Ganga is perceived as moksha dayini, the Mother Goddess whose waters bring relief from sin, sorrow and suffering. Through the millennia the river’s banks have been hallowed by a galaxy of saints and seers who either meditated or built great institutions of spiritual research and teachings on her embankments. Great poetic works, including Tulsidas’s Ramcharit Manas, which continues to run in the veins of Indians for centuries, were written alongside her tranquil flow in Varanasi. Great cities like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Prayag and Varanasi were built on her banks and these have become famous centers of art, music, textile weaving, literature and every other artistic endeavor apart from spiritual pursuits. Haridwar and Prayag being the sites hosting the largest gathering of faith – The Kumbha Mela, a festival which celebrates the relentless search of human kind for immortality. From India’s prehistoric ages, the Ganga, with her myriad tributaries, has not only been the harbinger of rich harvests in India’s plains, but also the precious lifeline of India’s cultural heritage. For more information on the river Ganges and the significance it holds for Haridwar, the Kumbha Mela and Ganges in Rome refer to this link

However, Ganga is not the only river in India to be given the pride and respect in the hearts of millions. For centuries Indians have worshipped seven holy rivers that crisscross the sub-continent, fertilizing its sprawling plains and watering its misty mountains and lush forests. These are the Ganga, the Yamuna, the invisible Saraswati, the Narmada, the Godavari, the Kaveri and the Sindhu. Since the Sindhu now flows through Pakistan, the Krishna has been added to the list of the sacred rivers of India. Each of these rivers has a unique persona and quality attached to it. While the Ganga is shimmering white-and-gold and represents purity or salvation, the Yamuna is blue like Krishna, who was born in Mathura, a holy city on her banks. Like him, she represents romance and fun. The legendary Saraswati, white and elegant like a swan, is now extinct and is called the river of knowledge and is associated with Brahma, the creator of the universe. The dark and elusive Narmada, rising in the Vindhya-Satpura range in Central India, meets the Arabian Sea in Gujarat. With few, if any, tributaries, the Narmada is often referred to as the Virgin River associated with the quality of detachment and surrender. The Godavari, rising in Gangadwar near Nashik in Maharashtra, flows eastwards to the Bay of Bengal. She is the saffron river of devotion sanctified by the presence of Ram, Sita and Lakshman who spent much of their exile years from Ayodhya in the forests along the river. Kaveri, the silvery river of wisdom flows from the Sahyadri Hills in Karnataka to the Bay of Bengal through Tamil Nadu. The Krishna, flowing from the Sahyadri Hills in Mahabaleshwar to the Bay of Bengal is green and represents courage and valor.

The quality and appearance associated each of these seven rivers have such a strong influence on the Indian psyche, that history, architecture, art, music and dance and even social movements show their impact. Each river represents a specific color and image and Indian scriptures weave innumerable legends around them which if told will create a blog of its own..!