Indian farmer Govind Singh traveled for nearly two days by train to reach what he believes is the “land of the gods” — just one among legions of Hindu pilgrims joining the largest gathering of humanity.
The millennia-old Kumbh Mela, a sacred show of religious piety and ritual bathing that opens today, is held at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
This edition of the mega fair, in the northern city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state, is believed to be the biggest ever.
Photo: Reuters
Organizers expect up to 400 million pilgrims from India and beyond over six weeks, running from today to Feb. 26.
“It feels great to be in the land of the gods for the Kumbh Mela,” said the 53-year-old Singh, who came from a village in Madhya Pradesh state, a journey of more than 600km. “I will stay as long as the gods want me to.”
The riverside in Prayagraj has turned into a vast tent city.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Many pilgrims are already taking dips in the chilly water, with temperatures on the banks at midday about 20°C.
A shivering Sunny Pratap Gaur’s eyes teared up and his teeth clenched in the cold as he stood by the river after a bath in the grey waters.
He said he was happy to have “beaten the crowds” with his early dip.
Photo: Reuters
“I took leave from the office to be here,” said Gaur, a mid-level government bureaucrat from the state capital, Lucknow.
Beyond the bathing area, scores of boats lined up, offering pilgrims a trip to the Sangam, the spot believed to be the confluence of the three rivers.
Hindus believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.
The festival is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
“Hundreds of boatmen from all over the state have come with their boats to serve the pilgrims,” Ramheet Nishad said.
Sprawling fields of tents — divided into sectors, complete with restaurants, shops and makeshift toilets — flanked the river.
Wealthier pilgrims camp in luxurious tents, while more humble ones huddle under tarpaulin sheets.
Saffron-robed monks and the naked ash-smeared ascetics roam the crowds, offering blessings to devotees.
They are to lead the dawn charge into the river waters on the most auspicious bathing dates.
For some visitors, the fair transcends politics and religion — a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“It is about the feel,” 26-year-old Rohit Singh said. “The people, the river, it is another world.”
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘PLAINLY ERRONEOUS’: The justice department appealed a Trump-appointed judge’s blocking of the release of a report into election interference by the incoming president US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against US president-elect Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned after submitting his investigative report on Trump, an expected move that came amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The US Department of Justice disclosed Smith’s departure in a footnote of a court filing on Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions
RSS