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NASIK, INDIA, July 30, 2003: The Kumbha Mela began at Nasik on Wednesday, amidst a total boycott of the opening Dhwajarohan (flag hoisting) ceremony by sadhus and mahants from various akhadas (monastic orders). Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and Maharashtra chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde opened the 13-month-long celebrations of Kumbha Parva by jointly hoisting a flag at Ramkund on the banks of Godavari river. The sadhus are up in arms against the Union Government following the Vajpayee cabinet’s issuance of an ordinance to take over land and property owned by the akhadas and temples across the country. Hundreds of angry sadhus blocked a motorcade carrying several officials from entering the holy site of Triyambak, a few kilometers from Nasik. Thousands of Hindu devotees have flocked to Nashik and the nearby town of Trimbakeshwar in the state of Maharashtra for the Mela, dismissing fears of a fresh militant attack after a blast in a Mumbai bus. Nearly 10,000 policemen have been posted at both towns and authorities are stepping up security. People have poured in from all corners of India to attend the start of the fair. “I, along with fifty other students of our religious body have arrived here to get the blessings of the river Godavari Wednesday,” said Sarvodas Swamy, a Hindu religious scholar. It is believed that a bath in the waters of the Godavari at Nashik and Triyambak wash devotees of all sins. It is also believed that the final rites of the dead, if performed on the banks of the Godavari during the Kumbha, results in Moksha (salvation) of the soul. For a related article on the history of the Kumbha Mela dating back to the pre-Harappan period click here.

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