“Holy Dip”– IndianBathing Festivals

EVERY YEAR MILLIONS OF HINDUS UNDERTAKE SOME FORM OF PILGRIMAGE, MANY OF

WHICH FEATURE RITUAL BATHING, OR THE DELIGHTFULLY NAMED “HOLY DIP.” TODAY MORE

PEOPLE THAN EVER ARE MAKING THESE PILGRIMAGES, AND THE NUMBER OF

RELIGIOUS GATHERINGS, OR MELAS, IS GREATER THAN EVER.

ABOVE Pilgrim receiving a little extra encouragement to let the cold waters of the Bay ofBengal wash away her sins at the Ganga Sagar Mela.

OPPOSITE Pilgrims bathing in the Ganges at Varanasi during the Dev Deepavali festival.

The great Hindu bathing festivals of India are vast gatherings. Viewed from afar, the

crowds, measured in the uniquely Indian denominations of lakhs, or 100,000, and

crores, or 10 million, appear like teeming ants. Almost unimaginable numbers of people

flock to points along one of India’s seven sacred rivers to bathe and earn good karma.

Devout Hindus believe in reincarnation: that the soul is continuously reborn until it

is freed from the cycle of samsara by the attainment

of enlightenment, moksha or nirvana. There are a

number of ways of doing this, involving good deeds

and righteous living. A short cut is through pilgrimage

and the “holy dip.” The more auspicious the location

and time of bathing, the more effective the spiritual

cleansing.

Sometimes the bathing ritual is carried out

according to arcane and ancient texts, but more often

it is a joyous bath, with pilgrims soaping themselves,

laughing, splashing, and ducking under the waters.

It is an inclusive ritual too: tourists and spectators will

invariably be invited to partake in their own holy dip,

irrespective of their religious beliefs.

Auspicious times are usually fixed by the lunar

cycle and change in relation to the Julian, solar

calendar. Over the years, at particularly auspicious

bathing dates, so many pilgrims have wanted to

bathe that great festivals have grown up. These large

gatherings have each taken on their own life

and character.

At the sacred Lake Pushkar, under the Kartik

Poornima full moon (in October–November), tribal people from Rajasthan gather to

bathe and trade camels. Over the years tourists have made their own pilgrimage to the

Pushkar Mela, which has been renamed the Pushkar Camel Fair, although for the locals

the ritual bathing is more important than the camel trading, which is a secondary,

commercial activity.

Pushkar Lake was believed to have been formed by a petal that dropped from the

lotus flower used by Lord Brahma to slay the demon Vajranabha. The lake is considered

one of the most holy places in India, and alcohol and all animal products are banned

from the town.

The camel trading peaks in the days leading up to the full moon, then many of the traders

and tourists drift away. The number of pilgrims peaks on the full moon and the steps, or

ghats, that line the edge of the lake are thronged with people all night and well into the day.

LEFT Pilgrims watchingelephants being bathed at the Sonepur Mela in Bihar.

ABOVE Taking a “holy dip”at the Ganga Sagar Mela.

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Many of the pilgrims camp out all night

in makeshift shelters. To help them find their

way, the main paths through the Mela

ground to the sea are lit by colored lights:

red, green and blue. Adding to the unworldly

feel, there is often a deep fog, illumined by

these garish colors.

After bathing, pilgrims head to the

Kapilmuni temple, passing dozens of naga, or

naked, sadhus, extreme ascetics or holy men,

who proffer blessings for a few rupees. These

sadhus, who are less fearsome than those at

the Kumbh Mela, are often obscured by a haze of hashish smoke.

The holiest site in Hinduism is Varanasi, the ancient city on the banks of the Ganges

in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Often referred to as the oldest living city in the world, it

attracts vast numbers of pilgrims throughout the year who aim to bathe, and sometimes

to die and be cremated, here. At auspicious times of the year, the numbers of pilgrims

swell, but the festival that is most spectacularly associated with the city is Dev Deepavali.

On this day, when the gods are thought to come to earth, countless tiny lamps are lit

and placed on the ancient ghats that lead down to the river as pilgrims bathe in the cold

waters of the Ganges.

The Sonepur Mela in Bihar is the largest livestock fair in Asia. Here you can buy horses,

goats, sheep, chickens, cattle, and even buffalo, but the biggest draw is the haathi, or

elephant, bazaar, where scores of elephants are traded. The elephants are bathed and

decorated to get the best price, and are kept in camps under ancient shady trees. Officially

it is not possible to buy or sell elephants, so they are traded with elaborate leases.

One of the oldest festivals in India, the Sonepur Mela dates back to a mythical

struggle between two gods in the shape of a crocodile and an elephant. Pilgrims come

to bathe under the full moon at the confluence of the holy Ganges and Gandak rivers.

Around 3 lakhs of people can turn up on the main bathing day, crowding the village and

prompting the police to set up a large one-way system for pedestrians. Most don’t stay

here, arriving early in the morning, bathing, then attempting to reach the small temple on

the banks of the Ganges before fitting in a bit of shopping and heading home.

Not all Indian bathing festival dates are fixed by the moon. The Ganga Sagar Mela,

which takes place on Sagar Island in the mouth of the Ganges River Delta in West

Bengal, is unique as it is set by the solar calendar. It is held on the same day every

year, Makara Sankranti (14 January), when the sun begins its journey north, and the

winter officially begins to turn to summer.

Up to 5 lakhs of pilgrims gather to bathe in the mouth of the Hooghly (a tributary of the

Ganges) as it flows into the Bay of Bengal It is a strange and atmospheric sight, watching

hordes of pilgrims heading down to the beach to bathe in the dead of night. The ritual involves

an element of suffering, too: the nights are very cold and the water can be all but freezing.

ABOVE At the Sonepur Mela,pilgrims bathe at theconfluence of the RiversGandak and Ganges.Bathing close to anelephant is deemedparticularly auspicious.

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TOP Rituals, includingprayers and offerings,accompany the “holy dip”on a foggy morning at theGanga Sagar Mela.

ABOVE Sadhu at prayer onthe shore of Lake Pushkarin Rajasthan.

The Kumbh Mela

The largest of all of the Hindu bathing festivals – in fact, the largest gathering of humans on

the planet – is the Kumbh Mela. Dating back to ancient history, the Kumbh Mela is held in

four different places over a complicated rotating twelve-year schedule.

The origins of the Kumbh Mela lie in Hindu mythology, in a battle between the Gods

and the Demons over a pitcher (or kumbh) of amrit – the nectar of immortality. During

a twelve-day titanic struggle four drops of nectar fell to earth at four different locations:

Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. One god day is equivalent to a human year,

which leads to the twelve-year schedule.

The most auspicious of the locations is Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, where pilgrims

bathe in the sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the

mythical Saraswati. Every twelfth Allahabad Kumbh Mela is designated a Mahakumbh,

or Great Kumbh, and the last Mahakumbh Mela in 2001 was the single largest

gathering of people with a single intent there has ever been.

Over the six or seven weeks of the festival, estimates ranged as high as 100 million

pilgrims. Certain days, we have seen, set by solar and lunar constellations, are

designated as particularly auspicious, and on these days the numbers of pilgrims peak.

On the main bathing day of the 2001 Mahakumbh estimates ranged as high as 35

million pilgrims – making the temporary Mela ground one of the largest cities in the

world by population.

BELOW LEFT Pilgrims bathingat sunset at the KumbhMela at Haridwar.

BELOW RIGHT Ganga Aartievening prayers at the HarKi Pauri Ghat, KumbhMela, Haridwar.

OPPOSITE Akhara of sadhusprocessing to Har Ki PauriGhat during the KumbhMela, Haridwar.

OVERLEAF Elephant andpilgrims crossing theGanges on one of thetemporary pontoon bridgesconstructed by the Melaauthorities.

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As well as pilgrims, the Kumbh Mela is noted for the legions of sadhus who turn up

to bathe. Some of these are formed into great organizations, or akharas. The most

fearsome of these are the naga sadhus who walk around covered only in the ash from

fires, sport great dreadlocks, and smoke charas (cannabis resin) as an integral part of

their veneration of Lord Shiva.

The three or four most auspicious days of the Kumbh Mela are designated shahi

snans, or royal bathing days. On these the akharas process to the sangam to bathe.

The largest of these is the Juna akhara, with thousands of members who carry tridents

and swords and are an ancient and fearful sight. They have been known to attack

people who offend them, or get in their way, with virtual impunity.

In Haridwar the pilgrims bathe in the Ganges at the concrete Har Ki Pauri Ghat. This is

where the Ganges flows out of the Himalayas, and the waters are cold and so fast-flowing

that pilgrims have to hold on to chains fixed to the ghat to avoid being washed away.

As Allahabad and Haridwar are considered the most auspicious Kumbh locations,

they also hold an ardh, or half Kumbh, every six years.

At Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh pilgrims bathe in the slow-flowing Shipra River.

Although one of the smaller Melas, it still attracts tens of millions of pilgrims. This

Kumbh Mela is also known as the Simhastha.

OPPOSITE

Followers of the Junaakhara in procession onone of the main bathingdays of the Maha KumbhMela 2001 at Allahabad.

RIGHT

Naga (naked) sadhusof the Juna akhara line upto bathe at the UjjainKumbh Mela.

OVERLEAF TOP

Mela ground constructedfor the 2001 Maha KumbhMela at Allahabad, thelargest ever gathering ofhumans on the planet.

OVERLEAF BOTTOM

Pilgrims bathing on one ofthe auspicious bathingdays at the Maha KumbhMela at Allahabad.

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