ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 20, 2006: (HPI note: This running coverage of the Mela here by Geeta Pandey paints a colorful picture.)
Friday marks the most important day for Hindu pilgrims in the enormous Ardh Kumbh festival taking place in the northern Indian town of Allahabad. The new moon night, or Mauni Amavasya, is celebrated on Friday, making it the most auspicious day in the six-week-long Hindu bathing festival. Millions of pilgrims are attending. The BBC News website’s Geeta Pandey was there, giving regular updates on how the day progressed.
0954 local time (0424 GMT), Allahabad
Thousands of Naga sadhus or Hindu holy men plunged into the Ganges in the northern Indian town of Allahabad at the crack of dawn. Their bodies smeared with ash, they were naked except for bright marigold garlands around their necks. Most ran out after a quick dip at Sangam, the confluence of three of Hinduism’s holiest rivers – the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. But some splashed around the calm waters lit up by the warm morning sun. One sadhu performed a few somersault tricks. On the shore, fistfuls of grey ash were taken out of polyethylene bags and smeared on shivering bodies. Out came the tridents, spears and swords. Cries of “Har Har Mahadev” rent the air as the Nagas raised their arms and danced. The sadhus officially kicked off Mauni Amavasya, the most auspicious bathing day of the six-week-long Ardh Kumbh festival
Elsewhere too, millions have been taking a bath in Allahabad. Tens of thousands have spent the night out in the cold, huddled together by the river side, at times with nothing more than a thin shawl to keep warm. Some of the luckier ones managed to build small fires and sat around them, singing religious hymns through the night. Bathing for Mauni Amavasya officially began at 0615 am local time, but anticipating huge crowds, tens of thousands bathed through the night. A constant stream of people are coming into and leaving the city. Many said they had walked at least 10 miles to reach Sangam. It is like a sea of humanity, wherever you look, you see people, men, women and some children too, crammed against each other. The entire mela area, spread over several square kilometres, has been turned into a pedestrian zone and traffic to the area has been stopped since Thursday afternoon. So far, the movement is orderly. Barricades have been put up everywhere in the mela grounds, and thousands of policemen and paramilitary troops have been deployed to ensure things go smoothly.
For more of this long report, click URL above.