Kumbh Mela is the single largest religious congregation or, in fact, human gathering of any kind on Earth. Located at the sacred rivers when Jupiter, Sun and Moon are in precise positions, the Nectar of Immortality flows for blessing all mankind.

Today the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, is a major Hindu religious pilgrimage and the largest religious gathering in the world. In 2001, according to the government of Uttar Pradesh, 30 million pilgrims were drawn to the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna on the most auspicious day for bathing. In an impressive feat of organization and administration, the first mela of the new millennium was managed to the overwhelming satisfaction of most, with an impressive health and safety record. The loudest complaint had to do with the intrusive presence of the media. Journalists, largely representing foreign media outlets, had swarmed to the mela, intent on broadcasting to a global audience sensational images of naked (or wet-sari-clad) Indians taking part in "ancient" religious rituals. Resistance to foreign interference with the mela has roots that go back 200 years. The British colonial state and the colonized had different ideas about what the Kumbh Mela represented: for the former, it was a potentially dangerous gathering that demanded tight regulation and control, but for the latter it was a sacred sphere in which foreign domination and interference were intolerable. In this book Kama Maclean examines this tension and the manner in which it was negotiated by each side. She asks why and how the colonial state tried to manipulate the mela and, more important, how the mela changed as Indians responded to the colonial power. In recent years many scholars have emphasized the extent to which the Kumbh Mela has been monopolized by the Hindu nationalist movement. Maclean seeks to situate the history of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad within a much broader context. She explores the role of a pilgrimage fair like the Kumbh Mela in disseminating ideas, particularly political ones like nationalism and ideas about social reform. Kama Maclean tells the mesmerizing and important story of the Kumbh Mela with exciting detail as well as careful scholarly attention, illuminating for the reader the full scope of the event's historical and socio-political context.

Once every twelve years the planets align in aconfiguration eagerly awaited by millions of Hindudevotees. It is time for the Nashik Kumbh Mela agathering of sadhus, pilgrims, and tourists whocongregate for a dip in the Godavari, one of India sholy rivers. The very act of setting out for the Kumbh,the journey, the austere, often difficult stay, allculminate in this holy dip, which the faithful believewill wash away their sins. Nashik Kumbh Mela: ASpiritual Sojourn draws us into the very heart ofthis ancient festival, with insights into its origin andsignificance, and into the world of the reclusivesadhus. Govind Swarup s close-ups and magnificentaerial shots capture the essence of this immense andtime-honoured congregation.

Where the Ganges and the Jamna meet people from many,many different traditions of Hinduism come together. Therewill be many genuinely holy men, some charlatans, and someobscurantists. But the majority of those who come to bathe inthe Sangam will be villagers. The Kumbh is an awe-inspiringdemonstration of simple piety and a clear example of the powerof myth.This is a small book presenting the Kumbh Mela, the biggestreligious festival in India. The renowned journalist MarkTully, who has covered with the BBC and as a free-lancer themain events in the recent history of India, gives in his inimitablestyle his impressions of the Kumbh Mela held at Allahabad in1989.

The first insider account of an ancient and secretive tradition • By the first foreigner to become a member, and later an elder, of the Juna Akhara, the oldest and largest grouping of Naga Babas • Filled with true accounts of magic, miracles, ghosts, and austerities • With lessons on Hindu gods, ayurveda, and Indian culture woven throughout After traveling at age 18 from his native California to India in 1969, Rampuri was drawn to the Naga Babas, an ancient and wild order of naked yogis whom he calls the “Hell’s Angels of Indian Spirituality.” Organized into a sect by Adi Shankara in the 5th century BC, the Naga Babas see themselves as the ultimate protectors of the Sanatan Dharma, or what we call the Hindu religion. Rampuri became a disciple of a Naga Baba--a master shaman sadhu--from Rajasthan and, as foretold by astrological prophecy, soon found himself the first foreigner to become an initiate of the Juna Akhara, the oldest and largest grouping of Naga Babas with more than 50,000 sadhu members. From drinking the “Nectar of Immortality” at the source of the Ganges River to allegations of tantric murder, this autobiography is filled with true accounts of magic, miracles, ghosts, and austerities, with lessons on Hindu gods, ayurveda, mantra, and Indian culture woven throughout. Through his journey of extremes, Rampuri takes us into the mystic heart of India.

April 2010. Haridwar, India. The Kumbh Mela draws to a close. For hundred days, from dawn to dusk, tens of millions of pilgrims arrived to free their sins bathing in the holy waters of river Ganges. They gathered from all over the country to attend this eternal ritual that cancels time and space, equalizes ethnicity and castes. A slow, incessant, growing procession of ordinary people has transformed the Kumbh Mela in the largest human gathering the world ever recorded. Tha aim of this book is to challenge the archetypical depiction of the festival showing the Sadhus, the holy men and point the lenses to the vastness of Kumbh Mela from the perspective of the silent multitude of Indian people with no holy credentials, that make it. This book is dedicated to the people of India, the silent majority that attends the Kumbh Mela.