Fair of many firsts

2010 Kumbh has been unique in many ways

The first Mahakumbh of the century at Haridwar and the first to be held after the creation of Uttarakhand, concluded with its eleventh and last snan on the auspicious occasion of the Purnima of the Adhimas (additional month) of the Baisakh of the Hindu calendar on April 28.

The devotees, including the sant community, bid adieu to the holy city, hoping to meet here again on the bank of the Ganga, after eleven years in 2021. "Due to the required conjunction of planets and stars for the holding of the Kumbh, the next Kumbh at Haridwar will be held after 11 years, instead of twelve years, a phenomenon which will occur after thousands of years," says Vipin Parashar, an eminent astrologer of the city. The last snan of the Kumbh started at wee hours at all the ghats, including Brahm Kund at Har-ki-Pauri, with cries of 'Har-Har-Mahadev' and 'Jai Ganga Maiya'. Most of the devotees came from Western U.P., Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujrat. Four special trains were run by the railway department and 200 special buses were also pressed into service to ferry the devotees from different states. Since the administration did not want to take any chance regarding the safety and security of the pilgrims, highly elaborate security arrangements were made and strict traffic plan was in place in the entire mela area. The official sources say that more than 15 lakh devotees took holy dip in the last snan. The Kumbh 2010 will be remembered for many firsts to its credit. For the first time in the history of the world such a huge gathering was witnessed at one place. The Kumbh mela officer, Anand Vardhan says that millions of devotees, from the country and abroad, driven by faith, congregated in the mela area during the four month mela period. Secondly, no cultural event had so far attracted such a global attention.

Huge number of devotees from more than 100 countries, including Pakistan, Nepal, the U.S.A., the U.K., Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany and Australia, flocked to the bank of the Ganga to have vivid glimpses of the mysticism and rituals of the wide spectrum of the Indian culture. Again, the akharas, which occupy the centerstage at the Kumbh, also made history this time. So far, at the Kumbh at Haridwar and the three other places where the Kumbh is held, there used to be three Shahi Snans, one Shahi Snan of the seven Sanyasi Akharas and the two other Shahi Snans in which all the 13 akharas, including the 7 akharas of the Sanyasis, 3 akharas of the Bairagis, the 2 akharas of the Udasins and one akhara of the Nirmals, used to take part. This time, in a welcome gesture of unity and harmony not only did all the 13 akharas participate in all the three Shahi Snans, but also declared the snan of the Bairagis, Udasins and the Nirmals, which was held on March 30 as a Shahi Snan, thus raising the number of the Shahi Snans from three to four. Also for the first time, the representatives of the Akhara Parishad, the apex body of all the akharas, took snan with masses on the last snan on April 28. The unity and comradeship, displayed by the akharas this time, ensured that there were no mutual bickering and clashes among the sadhus and the mahants, which had been a common feature in the previous Kumbhs not only in Haridwar but at other venues of the Kumbh too. Moreover, in the Kumbh at Haridwar it was for the first time that the administration provided camps and tents for all the mahamandleshwars, mandleshwars and mahants on the bank of the Ganga at Daksh Dweep, Gauri Shankar Dweep, Bairagi Camp, Neel Dhara Bank etc., outside the main city. The shifting of the main Kumbh area outside the city, on the pattern of the Kumbh at Prayag, eased pressure of the heavy rush of pilgrims from the main city. A welcome feature of this Mahakumbh was that both the central and the state governments acted in perfect sync, to ensure safety and security and smooth holding of this unique event. The central government provided heavy para military forces, besides generously providing financial assistance of about Rs.560 crore, the highest ever provided for the holding of any fair in the country. The Kumbh mela D.I.G., Alok Sharma says that 20,000 security personnel, including civil and the P.A.C. jawans of Uttarakhand and many other states and 60 companies of the para military forces provided by the centre were deployed throughout the mela area.

If the Mahakumbh 2010 made history on many fronts, history repeated itself in one respect. Inspite of the best efforts of the administration and highly elaborate security arrangements and massive preparations for crowd management, casualties due to untoward incident could not be avoided. The mega fair, which otherwise went very well, free from terror and violence, was disgraced by an unfortunate accident, resulting in a stampede and the caving in of the railings of a bridge, claiming at least seven precious lives.