90-598: The World Cultural Festival (WCF) is a global event series organized by the Art of Living Foundation . The Art of Living Foundation documents the first edition of the festival as 2006 in Bangalore . However, the event received little media attention compared to the 2011 and 2016 editions respectively. In July 2011, the festival was organized at Berlin Olympic Stadium . Attendance were estimated at 60,000. In 2016,
180-532: A 12-year cycle for it. The later Mughal Empire era texts that contain the term "Kumbha Mela" in Haridwar's context include Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (1695–1699 CE), and Chahar Gulshan (1759 CE). The Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh also mentions an annual bathing pilgrimage festival in Prayag, but it does not call it Kumbh. Both these Mughal era texts use the term "Kumbh Mela" to describe only Haridwar's fair, mentioning
270-539: A Better India (VFABI) on 5 December 2012. VFABI protested against the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case . In May 2013, 1,634 volunteers distributed medicines worth Rs. 2.2 million under the guidance of 262 doctors to over 20,000 slum dwellers in Delhi through 108 free health camps organized in collaboration with the Indian Medical Association . In September 2013, the 'I vote for better India' initiative
360-512: A Buddha statue, involved alms giving and it might have been a Buddhist festival. In contrast, Ariel Glucklich – a scholar of Hinduism and Anthropology of Religion, the Xuanzang memoir includes, somewhat derisively, the reputation of Prayag as a place where people (Hindus) once committed superstitious devotional suicide to liberate their souls, and how a Brahmin of an earlier era successfully put an end to this practice. This and other details such as
450-525: A central attraction and a stop for mainstream Hindus who seek their darsana (meeting, view) as well as spiritual guidance and blessings. The Kumbh Melas have been one of their recruitment and initiation venues, as well as the place to trade. These akharas have roots in the Hindu Naga (naked) monks tradition, who went to war without clothes. These monastic groups traditionally credit the Kumbh mela to
540-501: A charitable or a non-profit organization with chapters in many parts of the world. According to the tax return filed by the American chapter, AOL Foundation had total revenues of $ US5.5 million, an income of $ US3.5 million from course fees and expenditure of $ US3.4 million from July 2006 to June 2007. Net assets at the beginning of July 2007 amounted to $ US7.7 million. Its stress-elimination and self-development programs are based on
630-554: A group, the thirteen active akharas have been, The ten Shaiva and Vaishnava akharas are also known as the Dasanamis, and they believe that Adi Shankara founded them and one of their traditional duties is dharma-raksha (protection of faith). The Kumbh melas of the past, albeit with different regional names, attracted large attendance and have been religiously significant to the Hindus for centuries. However, they have been more than
720-459: A hundred artists performed the Hopak , a Ukrainian folklore dance. Five Bulgarian folklore dance groups numbereing more than two hundred dancers performed in the event. Other notable figures who attended the 2023 edition include: Vivek Murthy , Muriel Bowser , President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun , S. Jaishankar , Ryzsard Czarnecki , Ramnath Kovind , and Tim Draper . The 2016 edition
810-628: A large number of visitors came there for trade. He also includes a 1814 letter from his missionary friend who distributed copies of the Gospel to the pilgrims and tried to convert some to Christianity. According to an 1858 account of the Haridwar Kumbh Mela by the British civil servant Robert Montgomery Martin , the visitors at the fair included people from a number of races and clime. Along with priests, soldiers, and religious mendicants,
900-550: A large periodic assembly of Hindus at religious festivals associated with bathing, gift-giving, commerce and organisation. An early account of the Haridwar Kumbh Mela was published by Captain Thomas Hardwicke in 1796 CE. According to James Mallinson – a scholar of Hindu yoga manuscripts and monastic institutions, bathing festivals at Prayag with large gatherings of pilgrims are attested since "at least
990-411: A later practice by a "small circle of adherents" who have sought the roots of a highly popular pilgrimage and festival. The Hindu legend , however, describes the creation of a "pot of amrita (nectar of immortality)" after the forces of good and evil churn the ocean of creation. The gods and demons fight over this pot, the " kumbha ", of nectar in order to gain immortality. In a later day extension to
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#17327721687031080-553: A legal battle with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which allowed the festival to be held after paying a security deposit of ₹ 5 crore (US$ 600,000) in order to compensate for any possible damage. The Art of Living Foundation questioned the findings by the tribunal and has since then submitted a plea in the Supreme Court of India . Eventually it was found that the entire area where the event took place
1170-518: A local festival. Like the priests at Prayag, those at Nashik and Ujjain, competing with other places for a sacred status, may have adopted the Kumbh tradition for their pre-existing Magha melas. One of the key features of the Kumbh mela has been the camps and processions of the sadhus (monks). By the 18th century, many of these had organised into one of thirteen akharas (warrior ascetic bands, monastic militia), of which ten were related to Hinduism and three related to Sikhism . Seven have belonged to
1260-617: A part of his efforts to start major Hindu gatherings for philosophical discussions and debates along with Hindu monasteries across the Indian subcontinent. However, there is no historical literary evidence of these mass pilgrimages called "Kumbha Mela" prior to the 19th century. There is ample evidence in historical manuscripts and inscriptions of an annual Magha Mela in Hinduism – with periodic larger gatherings after 6 or 12 years – where pilgrims gathered in massive numbers and where one of
1350-533: A part of the glory of the Kumbh festival is in that "feeling of brotherhood and love" where millions peacefully gather on the river banks in harmony and a sense of shared heritage. In modern religious and psychological theory, the Kumbh Mela exemplifies Émile Durkheim 's concept of collective effervescence . This phenomenon occurs when individuals gather in shared rituals, fostering a profound sense of unity and belonging. The collective energy generated during
1440-418: A place "bustling with pilgrims, priests, vendors, beggars, guides" and local citizens busy along the confluence of the rivers ( Sangam ). These Sanskrit guide books of the medieval era India were updated over its editions, likely by priests and guides who had a mutual stake in the economic returns from the visiting pilgrims. One of the longest sections about Prayag rivers and its significance to Hindu pilgrimage
1530-591: A religious event to the Hindu community. Historically the Kumbh Melas were also major commercial events , initiation of new recruits to the akharas , prayers and community singing, spiritual discussions, education and a spectacle. During the colonial era rule of the East India Company, its officials saw the Hindu pilgrimage as a means to collect vast sums of revenue through a "pilgrim tax" and taxes on
1620-516: A similar fair held in Prayag and Nashik. The Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh lists the following melas: an annual mela and a Kumbh Mela every 12 years at Haridwar ; a mela held at Trimbak when Jupiter enters Leo (that is, once in 12 years); and an annual mela held at Prayag (in modern Prayagraj) in Magh . Like the Prayag mela, the bathing pilgrimage mela at Nasik and Ujjain are of considerable antiquity. However, these were referred to as Singhasth mela , and
1710-440: A very large human gathering, with officials estimating 70 million people over the festival, including more than 40 million on the busiest single day according to BBC News. Another estimate states that about 30 million attended the 2001 Kumbh mela on the busiest mauni amavasya day alone. In 2007, as many as 70 million pilgrims attended the 45-day long Ardha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj . In 2013, 120 million pilgrims attended
1800-441: Is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass gatherings of monks, and entertainment. The seekers believe that bathing in these rivers is a means to prāyaścitta (atonement, penance, restorative action) for past mistakes, and that it cleanses them of their sins. The festival is traditionally credited to the 8th-century Hindu philosopher and saint Adi Shankara , as
1890-577: Is found in chapters 103–112 of the Matsya Purana . Exceedingly old pilgrimage There is evidence enough to suggest that although the Magh Mela – or at least, the tradition of religious festival at the triveni [Prayag] – is exceedingly old, the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad is much more recent. Maclean (2008) , p. 91 According to James Lochtefeld – a scholar of Indian religions,
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#17327721687031980-651: Is found in the Vedic texts, in this sense, often in the context of holding water or in mythical legends about the nectar of immortality. The word Kumbha or its derivatives are found in the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE), for example, in verse 10.89.7; verse 19.16 of the Yajurveda , verse 6.3 of Samaveda , verse 19.53.3 of the Atharvaveda , and other Vedic and post-Vedic ancient Sanskrit literature. In astrological texts,
2070-472: The Hindu luni-solar calendar and the relative astrological positions of Jupiter , the sun and the moon. The difference in Prayag and Haridwar festivals is about 6 years, and both feature a Maha (major) and Ardha (half) Kumbh Melas. The exact years – particularly for the Kumbh Melas at Ujjain and Nashik – have been a subject of dispute in the 20th century. The Nashik and Ujjain festivals have been celebrated in
2160-477: The Indian Railways , artificially intelligent video surveillance and analytics by IBM , disease surveillance , river transport management by Inland Waterways Authority of India , and an app to help the visitors. The Kumbh mela is "widely regarded as the world's largest religious gathering", states James Lochtefeld. According to Kama Maclean, the coordinators and attendees themselves state that
2250-610: The Shaivism tradition, three to Vaishnavism , two to Udasis (founded by Guru Nanak's son) and one to Nirmalas . These soldier-monk traditions have been a well-established feature of the Indian society, and they are prominent feature of the Kumbh melas. Until the East India Company rule , the Kumbh Melas (Magha Melas) were managed by these akharas . They provide logistical arrangements, policing, intervened and judged any disputes and collected taxes. They also have been
2340-610: The UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity . The festival is observed over many days, with the day of Amavasya attracting the largest number on a single day. The Kumbh Mela authorities said that the largest one-day attendance at the Kumbh Mela was 30 million on 10 February 2013, and 50 million on 4 February 2019. The Kumbha in Kumbha Mela literally means "pitcher, jar, pot" in Sanskrit . It
2430-516: The 1789 Nashik Kumbh Mela. The dispute started over the bathing order, which then indicated status of the akhara s. At the 1796 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, violence broke out between the Shaivites and the Udasis on logistics and camping rights. The repetitive clashes, battle-ready nature of the warrior monks, and the lucrative tax and trading opportunities at Kumbh melas in the 18th-century attracted
2520-618: The 2016 edition, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull invited Art of Living Foundation to Australia for the next World Culture Festival. In March 2023, AoL announced their next WFC event to be held in Washington, DC from 29 September to 1 October 2023. By September 29, 2023, more than 600,000 people registered to attend at least one day of the event. WFC 2023 featured 17,000 performers from more than 100 countries and interviews with notable leading figures from various fields including former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon , who said he
2610-484: The 8th-century Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara , as a part of his efforts to start monastic institutions ( matha ), and major Hindu gatherings for philosophical discussions and debates. However, there is no historic literary evidence that he actually did start the Kumbh melas. During the 17th century, the akharas competed for ritual primacy, priority rights to who bathes first or at the most auspicious time, and prominence leading to violent conflicts. The records from
2700-401: The British administration to recognise the festival and protect their religious rights. The 16th-century Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas mentions an annual Mela in Prayag, as does a Muslim historian's Ain-i-Akbari (c. 1590 CE). The latter Akbar -era Persian text calls Prayag (spells it Priyag ) the "king of shrines" for the Hindus, and mentions that it is considered particularly holy in
2790-471: The East India Company rule era report of violence between the akharas and numerous deaths. At the 1760 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, a clash broke out between Shaivite Gosains and Vaishnavite Bairagis (ascetics), resulting in hundreds of deaths. A copper plate inscription of the Maratha Peshwa claims that 12,000 ascetics died in a clash between Shaivite sanyasi s and Vaishnavite bairagi s at
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2880-605: The Foundation reported receiving threats from the Taliban . The center has since been rebuilt and is functioning. 12°49′33″N 77°30′32″E / 12.825845°N 77.508759°E / 12.825845; 77.508759 Kumbh Mela Traditional Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela ( / ˌ k ʊ m b ˈ m eɪ l ə / ) is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism . On 4 February 2019, Kumbh Mela witnessed
2970-481: The Hindu month of Magha . The late 16th-century Tabaqat-i-Akbari also records of an annual bathing festival at Prayag sangam where "various classes of Hindus came from all sides of the country to bathe, in such numbers, that the jungles and plains [around it] were unable to hold them". The Kumbh Mela of Haridwar appears to be the original Kumbh Mela, since it is held according to the astrological sign "Kumbha" ( Aquarius ), and because there are several references to
3060-538: The Hindu pilgrims to a Christian sect. During the 1857 rebellion, Colonel Neill targeted the Kumbh mela site and shelled the region where the Prayagwals lived, destroying it in what Maclean describes as a "notoriously brutal pacification of Allahabad". "Prayagwals targeted and destroyed the mission press and churches in Allahabad". Once the British had regained control of the region, the Prayagwals were persecuted by
3150-586: The Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj. Nasik has registered maximum visitors to 75 million. Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj is the largest in the world, the attendance and scale of preparation of which keeps rising with each successive celebration. For the 2019 Ardh Kumbh at Prayagraj , the preparations included the construction of a ₹ 42,000 million (equivalent to ₹ 52 billion or US$ 630 million in 2023) temporary city over 2,500 hectares with 122,000 temporary toilets and range of accommodation from simple dormitory tents to 5-star tents, 800 special trains by
3240-407: The Kumbh Mela is uncertain. The 7th-century Buddhist Chinese traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) mentions king Harsha and his capital of Prayag, which he states to be a sacred Hindu city with hundreds of " deva temples" and two Buddhist institutions. He also mentions the Hindu bathing rituals at the junction of the rivers. According to some scholars, this is the earliest surviving historical account of
3330-538: The Kumbh Mela originated in times immemorial and is attested in the Hindu mythology about Samudra Manthana ( lit. churning of the ocean) found in the Vedic texts. Historians, in contrast, reject these claims as none of the ancient or medieval era texts that mention the Samudra Manthana legend ever link it to a "mela" or festival. According to Giorgio Bonazzoli, a scholar of Sanskrit Puranas, these are anachronistic explanations, an adaptation of early legends to
3420-401: The Kumbh Mela, which took place in present-day Prayag in 644 CE. Kama MacLean – an Indologist who has published articles on the Kumbh Mela predominantly based on the colonial archives and English-language media, states based on emails from other scholars and a more recent interpretation of the 7th-century Xuanzang memoir, the Prayag event happened every 5 years (and not 12 years), featured
3510-628: The Kumbh Melas: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Trimbak-Nashik and Ujjain. Other locations that are sometimes called Kumbh melas – with the bathing ritual and a significant participation of pilgrims – include Kurukshetra , and Sonipat . Each site's celebration dates are calculated in advance according to a special combination of zodiacal positions of Bṛhaspati ( Jupiter ), Surya (the Sun ) and Chandra (the Moon ). The relative years vary between
3600-845: The Mela strengthens social bonds and elevates individual and communal consciousness, illustrating the power of such gatherings to create shared identity and purpose. The Kumbh Mela are classified as: For the 2019 Prayagraj Kumbh Mela , the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that the Ardh Kumbh Mela (organised every 6 years) will simply be known as "Kumbh Mela", and the Kumbh Mela (organised every 12 years) will be known as "Maha Kumbh Mela" ("Great Kumbh Mela"). Numerous sites and fairs have been locally referred to be their Kumbh Melas. Of these, four sites are broadly recognised as
3690-532: The Tamil Kumbh Mela. Other places where the Magha-Mela or Makar-Mela bathing pilgrimage and fairs have been called Kumbh Mela include Kurukshetra, Sonipat , and Panauti (Nepal). The Kumbh Melas have three dates around which the significant majority of pilgrims participate, while the festival itself lasts between one and three months around these dates. Each festival attracts millions, with
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3780-653: The U.S. since 1989. Accredited as a United Nations non-governmental organization in 1996, it works in special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council. The majority of the officers of the organization, along with most of its teachers and staff, are volunteers. Many of its programs are conducted through or in conjunction with a partner organization, the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). It's programs draw on Advaita Vedanta tradition and practices. The Foundation operates as
3870-463: The Vedic era texts (pre-500 BCE). Nor is this story found in the later era Puranas (3rd to 10th-century CE). While the Kumbha Mela phrase is not found in the ancient or medieval era texts, numerous chapters and verses in Hindu texts are found about a bathing festival, the sacred junction of rivers Ganga , Yamuna and mythical Saraswati at Prayag, and pilgrimage to Prayag. These are in
3960-541: The attendance rose sharply. On amavasya – one of the three key bathing dates, over 5 million attended the 1954 Kumbh, about 10 million attended the 1977 Kumbh while the 1989 Kumbh attracted about 15 million. On 14 April 1998, 10 million pilgrims attended the Kumb Mela at Haridwar on the busiest single day, according to the Himalayan Academy editors. In 2001, IKONOS satellite images confirmed
4050-407: The attention of the East India Company officials. They intervened, laid out the camps, trading spaces, and established a bathing order for each akhara. After 1947, the state governments have taken over this role and provide the infrastructure for the Kumbh mela in their respective states. The Kumbh Melas attract many loner sadhus (monks) who do not belong to any akharas. Of those who do belong to
4140-450: The breathing technique Sudarshan Kriya , meditation and yoga. This technique is a major part of Art of Living courses. These courses have been conducted for students and faculty, government officials, firemen, ex-militants, and prisoners. Its areas of work cover disaster relief, poverty alleviation, prisoner rehabilitation, empowerment of women, campaigns against female feticide, and environmental sustainability. In 2007, with
4230-551: The colonial officials, some convicted and hanged, while others for whom the government did not have proof enough to convict were persecuted. Large tracts of Kumbh mela lands near the Ganga-Yamuna confluence were confiscated and annexed into the government cantonment. In the years after 1857, the Prayagwals and the Kumbh Mela pilgrim crowds carried flags with images alluding to the rebellion and the racial persecution. The British media reported these pilgrim assemblies and protests at
4320-402: The event after first accepting the invitation due to concerns about environment law violations. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe also pulled out of the event citing security and protocol issues. A separate enclosure had to be constructed for Narendra Modi also due to a security threat. The festival was criticized in the Indian news media for environmental reasons. The foundation was involved in
4410-568: The event on 12 March 2016. The last day of the event was attended by many BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley , Ravi Shankar Prasad , Venkaiah Naidu , Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal . The event was also promoted as an interfaith meet and attended by religious leaders like Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun , Mufti Mohammed Saeed Khan, Shankaracharya Vasudevanand Saraswati among others. President Pranab Mukherjee declined to attend
4500-417: The fair had horse traders from Bukhara , Kabul , Turkistan as well as Arabs and Persians. The festival had roadside merchants of food grains, confectioners, clothes, toys and other items. Thousands of pilgrims in every form of transport as well as on foot marched to the pilgrimage site, dressed in colourful costumes, some without clothes, occasionally shouting "Mahadeo Bol" and "Bol, Bol" together. At night
4590-561: The festival was held on the Yamuna floodplains in New Delhi from 11 to 13 March. It was organised by Ravi Shankar to celebrate the Art of Living Foundation 's 35 years in service. Attendance was estimated at around 3.5 million people in audience and 37,000 artists over 3 days. The performances were held on a 100 feet tall by 1,200 feet wide stage with an area of seven acres. Around 1,700 officials were deployed for traffic management, during
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#17327721687034680-539: The festival, and around 300 were on standby for the other events (specifically marriages) to be held during the festival. In 2016, the festival was chaired by Justice RC Lahoti . Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali from United Nations was also listed as a co-chair for the event but he died prior to the event. Some other committee members included former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers ; Nancy Pelosi , Katherine Clark and Ed Witfield from United States Congress; and former Lithuanian president Vytautas Landsbergis . Following
4770-459: The flow of pilgrims to and from the river and ghats was managed. In 1986, 50 people were killed in a stampede. The Prayag Kumbh mela in 1885 became a source of scandal when a Muslim named Husain was appointed as the Kumbh Mela manager, and Indian newspaper reports stated that Husain had "organised a flotilla of festooned boats for the pleasure of European ladies and gentlemen, and entertained them with dancing girls, liquor and beef" as they watched
4860-795: The form of Snana (bathe) ritual and in the form of Prayag Mahatmya (greatness of Prayag, historical tour guides in Sanskrit). The earliest mention of Prayag and the bathing pilgrimage is found in Rigveda Pariśiṣṭa (supplement to the Rigveda ). It is also mentioned in the Pali canons of Buddhism , such as in section 1.7 of Majjhima Nikaya , wherein the Buddha states that bathing in Payaga (Skt: Prayaga) cannot wash away cruel and evil deeds, rather
4950-587: The foundation had encroached upon 6.53 hectares (16.1 acres) of the tank area and issued a show cause notice. Art of Living Foundation organised the World Culture Festival on the Yamuna Flood plains in March 2016. A committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal recommended a fine of Rs 1,200 million on Art of Living Foundation for damaging the ecology of the flood plains. The fine
5040-1078: The foundation launched a three-year program to rejuvenate the Kumudavathi River (in Bangalore) under its 'Volunteer for Better India' campaign along with civic authorities and environmentalists to address water shortage problems Ravi Shankar led a walkathon in Bangalore to create awareness about the program. The project had revived five water-recharge wells, constructed 74 boulder checks, cleaned up 18 step wells and planted 2,350 saplings in seven villages by June 2014. Similar efforts were held to revive Pallar River in Andhra Pradesh, Manjra river in Maharashtra, and Vedavathi River in Karnataka. The Art of Living, along with UN agencies, NGOs and civil society, launched Volunteer For
5130-467: The foundation's project In 2008, Ravi Shankar announced the extension of the program to Andhra Pradesh to end farmer suicides from financial stress in that state. in 2008, the foundation launched 'Mission Green Earth Stand Up Take Action' campaign to plant 100 million trees to help reduce global warming and protect the environment, in partnership with United Nations Millennium Campaign and United Nations Environment Programme . In February 2013,
5220-529: The harmonica. Rabbi Sharon Cohen President of the Hebrew College spoke to the attendees at the event coinciding with the second day of the Jewish festival of Sukkot . Forrmer Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki attended the event and gave a speech. Conservative British politician Robert Buckland also gave a speech during the event. During the second day of the event, a Ukrainian heritage group composed of
5310-470: The historian and biographer of the Turco-Mongol raider and conqueror Timur , Timur's armies plundered Haridwar and massacred the gathered pilgrims. The ruthlessly slaughtered pilgrims were likely those attending the Kumbh mela of 1399. The Timur accounts mention the mass bathing ritual along with shaving of head, the sacred river Ganges, charitable donations, the place was at the mountainous source of
5400-698: The hubs for the Hindutva movement and politics. In 1964, the Vishva Hindu Parishad was founded at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela. The historical and modern estimates of attendance vary greatly between sources. For example, the colonial era Imperial Gazetteer of India reported that between 2 and 2.5 million pilgrims attended the Kumbh mela in 1796 and 1808, then added these numbers may be exaggerations. Between 1892 and 1908, in an era of major famines, cholera and plague epidemics in British India,
5490-502: The impact of the religious tax on the pilgrims became clear. In 1938, Lord Auckland abolished the pilgrim tax and vast numbers returned to the pilgrimage thereafter. According to Macclean, the colonial records of this period on the Prayag Mela present a biased materialistic view given they were written by colonialists and missionaries. Baptist missionary John Chamberlain, who visited the 1824 Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, stated that
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#17327721687035580-591: The largest gathering at the Prayag Kumbh Mela and the second largest at Haridwar. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica and Indian authorities, more than 200 million Hindus gathered for the Kumbh Mela in 2019, including 50 million on the festival's most crowded day. The festival is one of the largest peaceful gatherings in the world, and considered as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". It has been inscribed on
5670-414: The largest peaceful public gathering of humans ever recorded. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati ( Jupiter ) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Prayagraj ( Ganges - Yamuna - Sarasvati rivers confluence), Haridwar (Ganges), Nashik ( Godavari ), and Ujjain ( Shipra ). The festival is marked by a ritual dip in the waters, but it
5760-676: The later Kumbh Mela as strangely "hostile" and with "disbelief", states Maclean. The Kumbh Mela continued to play an important role in the independence movement through 1947, as a place where the native people and politicians periodically gathered in large numbers. In 1906, the Sanatan Dharm Sabha met at the Prayag Kumbh Mela and resolved to start the Banaras Hindu University in Madan Mohan Malaviya's leadership. Kumbh Melas have also been one of
5850-411: The legend, the pot is spilled at four places, and that is the origin of the four Kumbha Melas. The story varies and is inconsistent, with some stating Vishnu as Mohini avatar, others stating Dhanavantari or Garuda or Indra spilling the pot. This "spilling" and associated Kumbh Mela story is not found in the earliest mentions of the original legend of Samudra Manthana (churning of the ocean) such as
5940-416: The middle of the first millennium CE", while textual evidence exists for similar pilgrimage at other major sacred rivers since the medieval period. Four of these morphed under the Kumbh Mela brand during the East India Company rule (British colonial era) when it sought to control the war-prone monks and the lucrative tax and trade revenues at these Hindu pilgrimage festivals. Additionally, the priests sought
6030-425: The name Kumbh for these more ancient bathing pilgrimages probably dates to the mid-19th century. D. P. Dubey states that none of the ancient Hindu texts call the Prayag fair as a "Kumbh Mela". Kama Maclean states that the early British records do not mention the name "Kumbh Mela" or the 12-year cycle for the Prayag fair. The first British reference to the Kumbh Mela in Prayag occurs only in an 1868 report, which mentions
6120-542: The names of temples and bathing pools suggest that Xuanzang presented Hindu practices at Prayag in the 7th century, from his Buddhist perspective and perhaps to "amuse his audience back in China", states Glucklich. Other early accounts of the significance of Prayag to Hinduism is found in the various versions of the Prayaga Mahatmya , dated to the late 1st-millennium CE. These Purana-genre Hindu texts describe it as
6210-547: The native police also made attempts to improve the infrastructure, movement of pilgrims to avoid a stampede, detect sickness, and the sanitary conditions at the Melas. Reports of cholera led the officials to cancel the pilgrimage, but the pilgrims went on "passive resistance" and stated they preferred to die rather than obey the official orders. The Kumbh Melas have been sites of tragedies. According to Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi ,
6300-435: The need for increased pilgrimage and sanitation controls at the "Coomb fair" to be held in January 1870. According to Maclean, the Prayagwal Brahmin priests of Prayag coopted the Kumbh legend and brand to the annual Prayag Magh Mela given the socio-political circumstances in the 19th century. The Kumbh Mela at Ujjain began in the 18th century, when the Maratha ruler Ranoji Shinde invited ascetics from Nashik to Ujjain for
6390-473: The phrase "Kumbh mela" is yet to be found in literature prior to the 19th century. The phrases such as "Maha Kumbh" and "Ardh Kumbh" in the context of the ancient religious pilgrimage festivals with a different name at Prayag, Nasik and Ujjain are evidently of a more modern era. The Magh Mela of Prayag is probably the oldest among the four modern day Kumbh Melas. It dates from the early centuries CE, given it has been mentioned in several early Puranas . However,
6480-496: The phrase Kumbh Mela and historical data about it is missing in early Indian texts. However, states Lochtefeld, these historical texts "clearly reveal large, well-established bathing festivals" that were either annual or based on the twelve-year cycle of planet Jupiter. Manuscripts related to Hindu ascetics and warrior-monks – akharas fighting the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire era – mention bathing pilgrimage and
6570-444: The pilgrimage dropped to between 300,000 and 400,000. During World War II , the colonial government banned the Kumbh Mela to conserve scarce supplies of fuel. The ban, coupled with false rumours that Japan planned to bomb and commit genocide at the Kumbh mela site, led to sharply lower attendance at the 1942 Kumbh mela than prior decades when an estimated 2 to 4 million pilgrims gathered at each Kumbh mela. After India's independence,
6660-497: The pilgrims bathing. According to the colonial archives, the Prayagwal community associated with the Kumbh Mela were one of those who seeded and perpetuated the resistance and 1857 rebellion to the colonial rule. Prayagwals objected to and campaigned against the colonial government who supported Christian missionaries and officials who treated them and the pilgrims as "ignorant co-religionists" and who aggressively tried to convert
6750-407: The pilgrims. This changed particularly after 1857. According to Amna Khalid, the Kumbh Melas emerged as one of the social and political mobilisation venues and the colonial government became keen on monitoring these developments after the Indian rebellion of 1857. The government deployed police to gain this intelligence at the grassroots level of Kumbh Mela. The British officials in co-operation with
6840-500: The rituals included a sacred dip in a river or holy tank. According to Kama MacLean, the socio-political developments during the colonial era and a reaction to Orientalism led to the rebranding and remobilisation of the ancient Magha Mela as the modern era Kumbh Mela, particularly after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . The weeks over which the festival is observed cycle at each site approximately once every 12 years based on
6930-533: The river and that pilgrims believed a dip in the sacred river leads to their salvation. Several stampedes have occurred at the Kumbh Melas. After an 1820 stampede at Haridwar killed 485 people, the Company government took extensive infrastructure projects, including the construction of new ghats and road widening, to prevent further stampedes. The various Kumbh melas, in the 19th- and 20th-century witnessed sporadic stampedes, each tragedy leading to changes in how
7020-539: The river banks and camps illuminated with oil lamps, fireworks burst over the river, and innumerable floating lamps set by the pilgrims drifted downstream of the river. Several Hindu rajas , Sikh rulers and Muslim Nawabs visited the fair. Europeans watched the crowds and few Christian missionaries distributed their religious literature at the Hardwar Mela, wrote Martin. Prior to 1838, the British officials collected taxes but provided no infrastructure or services to
7110-687: The same year or one year apart, typically about 3 years after the Allahabad / Prayagraj Kumbh Mela. Elsewhere in many parts of India, similar but smaller community pilgrimage and bathing festivals are called the Magha Mela, Makar Mela or equivalent. For example, in Tamil Nadu , the Magha Mela with water-dip ritual is a festival of antiquity. This festival is held at the Mahamaham tank (near Kaveri river) every 12 years at Kumbakonam , attracts millions of South Indian Hindus and has been described as
7200-470: The support of the state government, volunteers from the foundation provided training to farmers in six Vidarbha districts in organic and zero-budget farming , rainwater harvesting, and multiple cropping, as well as teaching them the Art of Living course. The next year, the foundation said it had to reduce the scale of its work after the state government announced loan waiver for farmers and pulled back funding for
7290-560: The term also refers to the zodiac sign of Aquarius . The astrological etymology dates to late 1st-millennium CE, likely influenced by Greek zodiac ideas. The word mela means "unite, join, meet, move together, assembly, junction" in Sanskrit, particularly in the context of fairs, community celebration. This word too is found in the Rigveda and other ancient Hindu texts. Thus, Kumbh Mela means an "assembly, meet, union" around "water or nectar of immortality". Many Hindus believe that
7380-512: The trade that occurred during the festival. According to Dubey, as well as Macclean, the Islamic encyclopaedia Yadgar-i-Bahaduri written in 1834 Lucknow , described the Prayag festival and its sanctity to the Hindus. The British officials, states Dubey, raised the tax to amount greater than average monthly income and the attendance fell drastically. The Prayagwal pandas initially went along, according to colonial records, but later resisted as
7470-490: The virtuous one should be pure in heart and fair in action. The Mahabharata mentions a bathing pilgrimage at Prayag as a means of prāyaścitta (atonement, penance) for past mistakes and guilt. In Tirthayatra Parva , before the great war, the epic states "the one who observes firm [ethical] vows, having bathed at Prayaga during Magha, O best of the Bharatas, becomes spotless and reaches heaven." In Anushasana Parva , after
7560-405: The war, the epic elaborates this bathing pilgrimage as "geographical tirtha" that must be combined with Manasa-tirtha (tirtha of the heart) whereby one lives by values such as truth, charity, self-control, patience and others. There are other references to Prayaga and river-side festivals in ancient Indian texts, including at the places where present-day Kumbh Melas are held, but the exact age of
7650-684: Was attended by various global and local religious and political leaders. Participants included former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin , Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa , Vice-President of Suriname Ashwin Adhin and Karu Jayasuriya from the Sri Lankan Parliament. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also in audience and compared the festival to a "kumbh mela" of art. Other Indian leaders including Rajnath Singh , Sushma Swaraj , Shivraj Singh Chouhan , Devendra Fadnavis , Raman Singh and Manish Sisodia attended
7740-573: Was denied, and the judge allowed only the trade secrets claim to go to trial. In a 2012 settlement, the bloggers agreed to freeze their existing blogs with no restriction on starting up new blogs critical of Art of Living. In 2011, a public-interest litigation petition filed in the Karnataka High Court alleged that Art of Living had constructed structures on the Udipalya tank. The government of Karnataka found on inspection that
7830-455: Was introduced to Ravi Shankar through Vijay Nambiar , who worked as his former chief of staff. Jaime Aparicio attended the event and said he was inspired by Shankar's humanitarian and diplomatic efforts when he was one of the mediators to end the Colombian conflict in 2015. Another notable guest to the 2023 edition was former Slovenian Prime Minister Alojz Peterle , who performed playing
7920-475: Was later reduced to Rs 50 million, with no further events to be allowed at that location. After initially disputing the fine, with Ravi Shankar declaring that he would rather go to prison, the foundation paid on 3 June 2016. The matter is still under litigation with the Foundation denying any wrongdoing. After the organization's yoga center in Islamabad , Pakistan was burned down by armed men in March 2014,
8010-415: Was launched to increase awareness of the importance of voting as a responsibility towards the nation. In 2010, Art of Living sued two anonymous bloggers for defamation, trade libel, copyright infringement and disclosing trade secrets. The two claimed to be former teachers/followers of Art of Living and had written posts critical of the foundation. The Foundation's request to unmask the bloggers' identities
8100-440: Was successfully cleared without any damage and handed over to the respective authorities. Art of Living Foundation The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization (NGO). It was founded in 1981 by Ravi Shankar . The Art of Living Foundation has centers in 180 countries. The Art of Living Foundation has been an educational and humanitarian organization in
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