After visiting the Kumbh Mela of 1895, Mark Twain wrote: “It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. Is it done in love, or is it done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold white”. The famed American traveller and writer could not have caught the spirit of the Kumbh better. This huge confluence of people — the believers and non-believers, the faithful and the agnostic, the ascetics and the pompous — all charmed and awed by the power of a river.

When we mention powers of a river we immediately think of reports about the river being polluted, which however, gets drowned by the belief of the people in the strength of nature. So overwhelming is the ambience at the Kumbha Mela that it would be next to impossible for you to find a single reporter who has not taken a dip in the Ganges while reporting the congregation

Kumbh Mela is held every four years in four different cities — Hardwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik, where it is believed that drops of the nectar (amrit) have fallen during the struggle between the gods and the demons. Thus the congregation returns every 12 year to a particular centre. This year we are having the congregation in Haridwar.

Since the beginning of the Kumbh this January, the city on the banks of river Ganga in the foothills of Himalayas has been witnessing the largest ever congregation world over. On the day of first Shahi Snan — the Shivratri Day — the official estimates stand at 55 lakh people taking a dip in the river. There two more Shahi Snans on Mauni Amavasya and Baisakhi, which would also mark conclusion of the three-month long fair.

Those origin of the congregation can be credited to Sankaracarya, the early medieval period Namboodri sage from Kerala, who played a major role in reviving Hinduism and setting up the four Mathas — Badrinath (Uttarakhand), Dwarka (Gujarat), Puri (Odisha) and Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu).

Vishnu Puran mentions that the gods and demons called truce to undertake the churning of Kshirsagar, the celestial ocean for treasures. A pitcher of Amrit — immortality giving nectar was one of the 14 treasures which came out from churning. Jayant, son of king of god’s Indra, is said to have escaped with the pitcher and was pursued by the demons.

This chase continued for 12-long-years and 12 drops of nectar fell from the pitcher. Of these a drop each fell during the chase at the four places on earth, which in turn became the four centers of Kumbh congregation. The belief being that river during the Kumbha Mela, which is decided by planetary positions, turns into the nectar of immortality cleansing the believers of their sins after the holy dip in the river.

Many wonder if there can be scientific proofs for these congregations, but congregations, I believe, have to be embedded in faith. After several unsuccessful attempts by the Government to bolsters the recession-hit tourism sector, there is a sudden inflow of millions of people into the footfalls of Hardwar. This is described by some as faith; some others describe it as belief. I would define it as the desire to shorn oneself of the worldly needs even just for a moment of that monumental dip in the water of “Patit-Pavni Ganga”. In abdicating the worldly powers for that one monumental moment, the believer gives himself the chance to experience the power of the nature — the omniscient and omnipresent.

The ever-flowing water of the Ganga is the symbol of immortality of the Indian civilization, culture, tradition and faith. Despite knowing that one day they will have to leave earth, people come here with a hope that they would get amaratva (immortality). The knowledge that they have to take leave the world one day and still the faith a devotee has in the holy dip, needs a deeper definition of amaratva.

It’s probably his or her desire for immortality which in the case of Kumbh is symbolised by river Ganga. Kumbh is as eternal as the Ganga and thus a symbol of India’s glorious tradition and unparalleled civilisational values. Kumbh acts, to use words of Jawaharlal Nehru from Discovery of India, like a silken bond that unites a staggeringly diverse country.

For the more visible and vocal conservationists Kumbh is the opportune moment to come out of their arm chairs and harness the desire for amaratva of these million-strong devotees of nature to create an awareness for saving nature. This may not make them eligible for a Government grant but would certainly go a long way in helping them to imbibe their avowed preambles.