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Allahabad – 21th
February, 2001
Kumbh Mela 2001 ends
with Maha Shivratri
by Tony Fernandes
Maha Shivratri was an extraordinary day
here in Allahabad. Only a few pilgrims decided to come here the previous
day to camp overnight. Almost 95 percent arrived on the day itself and
left by evening. Not many came from other states making this the most
local event of the whole 44 day Kumbh Mela. There were very few traffic
restrictions because there was a lot of parking space now available on
the Kumbh grounds. Estimates of attendance ranged from 1.5 to 2.5
million. I believe between 800,000 to 900,000 had their Maha Shivratri
snan in and around the Sangam today.
The Kumbh Mela is now over. Looking back
it almost seems like it never happened. Was it a dream?
A number of temples in Allahabad and the
surrounding areas were also packed with pilgrims. Lord Shiva plays a big
part in the mythological story of the Ganga’s arrival here on Earth.
In order to prevent the Earth being flooded, He caught the Ganga in the
locks of His hair and gradually released Her onto the plains of India.
In Images and pictures He is seen with the crescent Moon on His head as
well as with the Ganga sprouting out of his hair like a fountain. On
Maha Shivratri, pilgrims visit Shiva temples to pray and perform the
Rudrabhisek (pouring water or a cocktail of water, milk, honey and other
ingredients over the Shiva Lingam in a place of worship) People who live
near the Ganga usually go to the Ganga first before visiting the temple.
Having had their snan in the sacred river they take Ganga jal (Ganga
water) with them to perform the abhisek at the temple. A large
percentage of pilgrims who had their snan at the Sangam visited the
Mankameshwar temple located at the Saraswati ghat on the banks of the
Yamuna to perform their abhisek. This temple is more popular, not
because it is near the Sangam, but because it has strong Shakti energy.
Pilgrims swear by it and their display of faith here speaks for itself.
Large congregations were also seen at many other temples all over the
city.
The Pandila Mahadev temple in a village
12 kilometres from Allahabad saw the largest congregation of all. The
shakti energy here draws the faithful from far away. I left Allahabad
for this village at 5.20am. On my way I stopped at the Phaphamau bridge
in the north of the city to collect my Ganga jal. The crescent moon in
the sky was shaped exactly like the one on Shiva’s head. The road
leading to the village temple passes through green fields and other
small villages. The village itself is unremarkable until one gets to the
temple. It seemed like there was an irresistible force there drawing
pilgrims to it. After leaving it, I somehow felt strangely fulfilled.
Since it was Shiva who brought down the Ganga to us, I thought it only
natural that we take some of it back to Him as a thank you. After
struggling to get past the throngs to reach Allahabad I visited the
Sangam and the temples of Mankameshwar, Shiv Kuti, Bharatdwaj Muni and
others. By midnight I felt as if I was in another space and on a
different plane.
Varanasi had a replay of scenes from the
Kumbh Mela. The Varanasi area is covered with hundreds of temples and
shrines. The most famous is the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is one of
the 12 jyotirlingas in the country. A number of the Akaharas and
hundreds of Naga Sadhus who had vacated their camping grounds here after
Basant Panchami, settled in Varanasi waiting for Maha Shivratri. They
began their procession at 7am from the Hanuman ghat. The temple was
closed to all other pilgrims until the Nagas has finished praying at
10am. Security was a major concern because of the sensitive issue
surrounding the Gyanvapi mosque. A number of Shiv Sainiks (members of
the militant Hindu fundamentalist Shiv Sena organisation) were arrested
while they were marching towards the mosque from the railway station.
Varanasi is also a place where people can smoke marijuana openly. Stalls
in many places sell Bhang (fresh dark green marijuana leaf paste) mixed
with milk, lassi or any drink of your choice. Bhang is considered to be
Lord Shiva’s prasad (blessed gift). Hundreds of kilos of the stuff
were consumed during Shivratri in Varanasi. During the Kumbh Mela too
massive amounts of marijuana was consumed.
Over 100,000 visited the Lodheshwar
temple which is also situated in Uttar Pradesh. Many pilgrims chose to
walk for days to get there even though they had the option of taking
buses. No women are allowed to enter the Lodheshwar temple and so
perhaps to make up for their absence, a group of devotees known as
kanvarthis wear colourful dresses and rings on their legs when they
visit it.
Please address your comments to the Zenzibar Salon
where a discussion
area is set up for the Kumbh Mela.
Tony
Fernandes is Zenzibar's correspondent at Kumbh Mela 2001 in Allahabad,
India. You can contact him at tony@zenzibar.com
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