Hundreds of millions of Hindus have gathered this week in what is expected to be the largest gathering in the world, where a staggering number of devotees, tourists, politicians and celebrities will take a dip at the confluence of two of India’s most sacred rivers.
The religious festival, called the Maha Kumbh Mela, takes place every 12 years on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj. Officials this year expect up to 400 million people – more than the population of the United States – to visit the site in Uttar Pradesh state over the next six weeks.
A major Hindu fair, the event has recently become an important political event for the rise of Hindu nationalism, supported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political party. It is also a major task for government officials who work to prevent incidents such as stampedes and the spread of disease.
What is the Maha Kumbh Mela?
The Maha Kumbh Mela, or “great festival of the holy pot,” is the largest religious festival in the world. Based on a Hindu myth in which demons and gods fight over a jar containing the nectar of immortality, the centuries-old festival focuses on a series of holy baths, which Hindus say cleanse their sins.
The holy baths are preceded by a procession consisting of singers and dancers dressed in colorful clothes, in ornate chariots and carrying ceremonial spears, tridents and swords. To take part, people travel from all over India and the world to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, a sacred place that is also said to be the final resting place of the legendary third river, the Saraswati.
The timing of the festival, which ends this year on February 26, is based on the astrological alignment of the sun, the moon and the planet Jupiter, which takes about 12 years to orbit the sun. Smaller versions of the festival take place in one of three Indian cities – Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain – about every three years.
How big is the festival?
The scale of the Maha Kumbh Mela is staggering. The last one, in 2013, drew 120 million people to Prayagraj, according to government estimates. The central festival in 2019, although less religiously significant, attracted 240 million people.
This year, the city, which is home to about 6 million residents, is preparing to welcome 300 to 400 million people, government officials said. In preparation, the government has built a temporary camping ground on an area of 10,000 hectares, with tens of thousands of tents and toilets, roads, parking lots, water and electricity infrastructure and thousands and thousands of security cameras.
Most of those preparations – which will likely make this Maha Kumbh Mela the most expensive to date, at around $800 million – are designed to prevent disease outbreaks and outbreaks, which have occurred in previous festivals. This event is expected to bring in billions of dollars to the state government, officials said.
To accommodate the bathers, the government has also installed a platform made of sandbags at an area of 7 km on the banks of the river Ganges. On Mondays and Tuesdays, millions of pilgrims flock to the river on those steps of the cold morning mist, praying for happiness, health and prosperity.
What is the significance of the festival today?
The Maha Kumbh Mela has always been an important symbol of Hinduism, although it was generally not politicized until the recent emergence of the idea of India as a Hindu nation. This year’s festival is the first since the political party of Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist, BJP, became the ruling party in the country 11 years ago.
“It would be interesting to see if Prime Minister Modi goes,” said Arati Jerath, a political analyst in New Delhi. “It must be the greatest and most wonderful time to take a dip in the Ganges.”
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who is also a staunch Hindu priest, changed the name of the festival city in 2018 to Prayagraj of Allahabad. The move, which is part of the reforms brought in by the BJP, replaced the Muslim name given by the 16th century Mughal emperor Akbar with one referring to the Hindu place of travel.
In 2019, when India holds general elections, the Kumbh Mela gave Mr Modi and his party a huge political opportunity to appeal to a receptive audience of millions. Mr. Modi won that election.
The next general election is still a long way off, scheduled for 2029. But Mr. Modi, who won by a narrow margin when his party lost last year’s vote, has put himself on billboards for the festival across the country and called it iconic. of the “timeless spiritual heritage of India” on social media, combining the spiritual event with nationalism.
“The BJP hopes to use it to strengthen its Hindu nationalist base,” Ms Jerath said. But he added that it was not clear whether that would bring the party more votes. “Whether it works or not, I don’t know, but it certainly helps to take the BJP one step closer to its goal of turning India into a great Hindu nation.”
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