Pre-Kumbh Stories

1 – Hosting the royal procession (Peshwai) of Naga Sadhu’s first dip in Kshipra River at Ramghat, The Greenwich of India.

Kumbh is one of the largest congregation of humans on the planet. It takes place at an interval of every 4 years at 4 different venues. This year Kumbh Mela, known as ‘Simhastha Kumbh’ is happening in Ujjain, in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

It is a month long event, starting from 22nd of April 2016 to 21st of May, 2016. It is a true culmination of the diversity that the culture of India is. People from every nook and corner of the country visit the Kumbh in search of transcendence. India is the only culture on the planet where human beings long for transcending the physical in order to experience the existence in its totality.

More than 50 million people are expected at this years Kumbh. A week before the first Holy Dip in the river Kshipra, sadhus(seers) and commoners start thronging the place. The sadhus of different sects, enter the Kumbh in a procession. This procession is termed as ‘Peshwai’.

The above image is after the Peshwai of 17th April, 2016. The ram ghat is gearing up for the first holy dip (snaan)

2 – The journey of rebirth. Kumbh’s aura changed Sabina into Mahant Shivani Giri after Diksha.

Kumbh is known to transform, literally. It is not without a reason that this festival has survived, every possible man-made and natural deterrent over thousands of years, and it still retains its inherent purpose of providing a human civilisation, an opportunity to transcend the physical and enter the spiritual.

The story of Sabina is one from many such occurrences.

3 – A learned never stops learning – Kumbh Diaries

Kumbh is one festival which attracts every sect of Sadhus from across India. The actual term is ‘akhara’, which denotes the group of a sect staying together. Hundreds of ‘akharas’ come to Kumbh to take the holy dip.

Photo Credit: Tanveer Farooqui