History of Maha Kumbh Mela (Festival)
Story Behind Kumbh Mela
History: It is described that while Durvasa Muni was passing on the road, he saw Indra on the back of his elephant and was pleased to offer Indra a garland from his own neck. Indra, however, being too puffed up, took the garland, and without respect for Durvasa Muni, he placed it on the trunk of his carrier elephant. The elephant, being an animal, could not understand the value of the garland, and thus the elephant threw the garland between its legs and smashed it. Seeing this insulting behavior, Durvasa Muni immediately cursed Indra to be poverty-stricken, bereft of all material opulence. Thus the demigods, afflicted on one side by the fighting demons and on the other by the curse of Durvasa Muni, lost all the material opulence’s in the three worlds.
Lord Indra, Varuna and the other demigods, seeing their lives in such a state, consulted among themselves, but they could not find any solution. Then all the demigods assembled and went together to the peak of Sumeru Mountain. There, in the assembly of Lord Brahma, they fell down to offer Lord Brahma their obeisances, and then they informed him of all the incidents that had taken place.
Upon seeing that the demigods were bereft of all influence and strength and that the three worlds were consequently devoid of auspiciousness, and upon seeing that the demigods were in an awkward position whereas all the demons were flourishing, Lord Brahma, who is above all the demigods and who is most powerful, concentrated his mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus being encouraged, he became bright-faced and spoke to the demigods as follows.
Lord Brahma said: I, Lord Siva, all of you demigods, the demons, the living entities born of perspiration, the living beings born of eggs, the trees and plants sprouting from the earth, and the living entities born from embryos—all come from the Supreme Lord, from His incarnation of rajo-guna [Lord Brahma, the guna-avatara] and from the great sages [rsis] who are part of me. Let us therefore go to the Supreme Lord and take shelter of His lotus feet.
For the Supreme Personality of Godhead there is no one to be killed, no one to be protected, no one to be neglected and no one to be worshiped. Nonetheless, for the sake of creation, maintenance and annihilation according to time, He accepts different forms as incarnations either in the mode of goodness, the mode of passion or the mode of ignorance.
after Lord Brahma finished speaking to the demigods, he took them with him to the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which is beyond this material world. The Lord’s abode is on an island called Svetadvipa, which is situated in the ocean of milk.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead directly and indirectly knows how everything, including the living force, mind and intelligence, is working under His control. He is the illuminator of everything and has no ignorance. He does not have a material body subject to the reactions of previous activities, and He is free from the ignorance of partiality and materialistic education. I therefore take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, who is eternal, all-pervading and as great as the sky and who appears with six opulence’s in three yugas [Satya, Tretä and Dväpara].
When offered prayers by Lord Siva and Lord Brahms, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Visu was pleased. Thus He gave appropriate instructions to all the demigods. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Ajita, unconquerable, advised the demigods to make a peace proposal to the demons, so that after formulating a truce, the demigods and demons could churn the ocean of milk. The rope would be the biggest serpent, known as Vasuki, and the churning rod would be Mandara Mountain. Poison would also be produced from the churning, but it would be taken by Lord Siva, and so there would be no need to fear it. Many other attractive things would be generated by the churning, but the Lord warned the demigods not to be captivated by such things. Nor should the demigods be angry if there were some disturbances. After advising the demigods in this way, the Lord disappeared from the scene.
One of the item come from the churning of ocean of milk was nectar which will give strength to demigods. For twelve days and twelve nights (equivalent to twelve human years) the gods and demons fought in the sky for possession of this pot of Amrita. From this nectar some drops spills at Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik while they were fighting for nectar . So on earth we celebrate this festival to get the pious credits and meet the purpose of life that is going to back to godhead our eternal home where our father is waiting for us. This is opportunity we get after associating with saints or holy man who follow scriptures.
Kumbh mela provides us this great opportunity to purify our soul by bathing in holy river and serving saints.
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this is very mysterious
yes it is because this happen a long time ago.
The story needs to be more descriptive.
The character of Mohini which is very important is and puts major impact in the whole scenario of Samudra Manthan, is not disclosed.
Secondly, please elaborate why the Mahakumbh is held in every twelve years and rest kumbh in every four years.
Thirdly, in few stories it is defined that the Jyant(son of Indra) flew away with kumbh to protect it from demons, how far is this true?
Thanks for the suggestions.I will edit this story.
Ardha Kumbha – every 6 years
Purna Kumbha – every 12 years
Maha Kumbha – 144 years ( after 12 X 12 = 144 Purna Kumbha years)
When was the latest mahakumbh organised (144 yrs) ?
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i like this
Thanks for knowing about Mahakumbhamela.
But this is not a complete story.
Some facts are suspense.
It is from sirmad bhagavat purana. No facts are suspected every thing is as it is. You can refer this book too.
Indeed, all
Indeed, even the maha-Kumbh is related to the spiritual Lord, Sri Vishnu, just as all rituals, rites, sacrifices, injunctions of the Vedas are related to Him directly or indirectly. Prayag is the King of all holy places because the three more sacred rivers viz. Gangaji, Yamunaji and Saraswati have their confluence here. All three are related to Sri Krishna. Ganga emanates from His lotus feet (as stated in Devi Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavatam, etc.), Yamuna is His eternal associate and Sarasvati is His consort in the spiritual world, Vaikuntha.
Same with the Cow, Tulsi plant, Geeta, and Brahmana. all four are considered supremely pure by every Hindu due to their association with Sri Krishna. Although all forms of God: Ram, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga and Their associates (Ganapati, Kartikeya, Kaali, etc.) are fully powerful, They have emanated from Sri Krisna.
His associates take birth in Bharat-vursh again and again, and propogate the eternal tradition of Bhakti. Tulsidas, Meera, Surdas, Kabir, Tukaram, Bamakhepa. The list is endless. And then the Lord comes Himself, too. Sometimes He openly declares the inmost secret of Bhakti (like Gouranga Mahaprabhu) and sometimes He hides his intention, while secretly bestowing bhakti on vedantists and those who have merged in Brahm (like Ramakrishna Paramhams drowning vedantists like Totapuri, Vivekananda and Keshav sen in bhakti).
Indeed, He is the greatest secret of all great secrets, and His special power (of Bhakti) is Supreme amongst all traditions (like gyan, Karm and Yog).
I truly admire your devotion towards lord Krishna, and would suggest you a path way to reach him, and the path includes to adopt his qualities in your life, that would make him happy, mere praising him won’t add up anything to his glory, he is already glorified, its time for you to adopt his qualities and attain ur salvation.
I’m glad that it turned out so effectively and I hope it will continue in the future because it is so worthwhile and meaningful to the community. becbekggkcca