Here are recent photos shot using RC planes by our friend Gaurav during kumbh mela 2013. You can visit his website http://www.flyingcameraproductions.com Flying Camera Production for covering kumbh mela you can get more photos from his website.
Here is list of participating akharas. This is official list published by kumbh mela administration.
| Sampradaya | Name Of Akharas | Adrress of Akharas |
|---|---|---|
| Saivas Sanyasi Akhada | Shri Panchayati Akhada Mahanirvani | DaraGanj Prayag Allahabad |
| Shri Panch Atal Akhada | Chaak Hanuman KatuhaPura Kasi Varanasi | |
| Shri Panchayati Akhada Niranjani | 47/44 Mori Daraganj Prayag | |
| Taponidhi Shri Anand Akhada Panchayati | Swami Sagaranad Asharm Trikamsevar Nashik | |
| Shri Panchadashnam Juna Akhada | Bada Hanuman Ghat kasi,Varanasi | |
| Shri Panchadashnam Ahvan Akhada | D 17/122 Dashasmeva ghat kasi,Varanasi | |
| Shri Panchadashnam PanchaAgni Akhada | Talhati Girinagar po Bhavnath junagar(GJ) | |
| Vairagi Vaishnava Akhadas | Shri Digambarani Akhada | Samalaji Khaka chauka mandir Sambar Kantha GJ |
| Shri Nirvani Akhada | Shri Ahyodhya ji Hanuman Gadi Faizabad | |
| Shri Nimrohiani Akhada | Shri Nimrohiani Akhada Dhir Samir mandir vanshivat virndavan |
|
| Udasin Sampradaya Akhadas | Shri Panchayati Bada Udasin Akhada | Krishna Nagar Kiidganj Allahabad, |
| Shri Panchayati Akhada Naya Udasin | Kankhal Haridwar | |
| Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada | Sita ghat road kankhal haridwar |
Makar Sankranti is one of the most sacred festivals and is celebrated in almost all parts of the country in myriad cultural forms, great devotion, fervor and gaiety. The time from sunrise to sunset on Makar-Sankranti is very auspicious. A Holy bath during this period carries special significance. Those who take a holy bath in the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri acquire pious credits .
The day occurs when the moon is full in the Hindu month of Paush. This is the last full moon of winter. By this time, the sadhu and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive at the Kumbh Mela. By the day, more pilgrims come to attend the festival in buses, trains and on foot. Each day from now on the population of Kumbhnagari (Kumbh City) doubles.
This day is also referred to as the “New Moon of the Saints.” For the holy men and women, this is the main bathing day. New members to various holy monastic orders receive their first initiation on this day. More than fifty million people bathe in the holy waters during the Mauni Amavasya.
This is the fifth day of the luminous half of the lunar month and is the beginning of spring in North India. Traditionally people wear yellow on this day. It is the day when people pray to the gods for a good bumper harvest.
Ratha Saptami is a highly auspicious occasion dedicated to Lord Surya, the Sun God in Hinduism. Lord Surya, depicted riding a chariot driven by seven horses, is worshipped on this day. Rath Saptami festival is observed on the seventh day of Shukla Paksha in the Magh Month (January – February) in the traditional Hindu calendar.
The Vishnu Sahasranama Stothram (thousand names dedicated to Lord Vishnu) was revealed to the Pandavas on this day by Bhishma when the latter was lying in a bed of arrows after the great war of Mahabharata. On this day, Bhishma Pithamaha, the oldest, wisest, most powerful and most righteous person belonging to the Kuru dynasty (approx. over 5000 years ago), narrated the greatness of Lord Krishna through Sri Vishnu Sahasranama to Yudhishtira, the oldest brother of Pandavas.
A huge temporary city is created at the site of the festival for the millions of pilgrims that arrive for the most auspicious bathing days. Kumbh Mela is like a Yogi Convention, where yogis, sadhus (saints), holy people and pilgrims come from all over India. Many sadhus come from various holy places, remote forests and mountain caves in the Himalayas. The most famous of them are the Naga Babas, who are completely naked. Their bodies are smeared in ash and they wear their hair in deadlocks.
It is said that if a person bathes at the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges, Yamuna and the subterranean Saraswati on one of the main bathing days during Kumbh Mela, he or she attains liberation. The Vishnu Purana says that one gets greater benefit by bathing during this festival than by performing 1,000 Ashwamedha Yajnas (horse sacrifices) or by circumambulating the earth 100,000 times. It is believed that by bathing at Maha Kumbh, a person is free of all his sins and 88 generations of his or her ancestors are benefited.
The main bathing days are known as ‘Shahi Snan’ or Royal Bathing Days. The main bathing day, which witnesses maximum participation, is on the Mauni Amavasya day (the dark moon). The next main day or the next Shahi Snan is said to be on Vasant Panchami (fifth day of the new moon). Another significant day is on the Bishma Ashtami which is the eighth day of the new moon. For further details please visit Kumbh Mela 2013.
Naga Sadhus at Kumbh Mela
Naga Sadhus are a particular group of Shaivite saints who reside in the Himalayan Caves and come to visit the civilization only during the Kumbh Mela. This is the only event when these ascetic saints can be seen amongst the general Indian population.
The Naga Sadhus have unique characteristic features drawing inspiration from the famous Hindu god Shiva. They hold tridents crowned with human skulls. Their bodies are smeared in thick ash and they wear heavy coils of matted hair on the head. These saints remain completely naked even during biting cold. They smoke Marijuana through a pipe called a Chillum or Shiv Muli. They use it as a tool to avoid the worldly distraction yet have self-control even in the intoxicated state. But as they advance in spiritual life they renounce intoxication too. The Naga Sadhus renounce the materialistic world and practice celibacy to escape from the cycle of birth and death and to attend salvation. As they belong to the Shaivite sect, they have matted locks of hair and their bodies are covered in ash like Lord Shiva.
The Naga Sadhus were founded by Dattatreya during ancient times such that the date of the foundation is lost. The ancient period was perhaps an age when humans never stressed the importance of time. Shankaracharya was the first one to organize the Nagas to protect Sanatan Dharma ( Hinduism ).
The place where the Naga Sadhus live is called ‘Akharas.’ The member of an ‘Akhara’ should always be ready for an intellectual fight and even for wrestling.
The Naga Sadhus – part of a mysterious and secret society – are worshippers of Lord Shiva. Nag means ‘naked’ and hence they are known as Nag Babas or Warrior-Ascetics. The rarely appear in public and the Kumbh Mela is one of those rare public events.
The Nag Babas are a warrior class and are divided like a regiment in an army. They have no fear of death and enraging them is a sure shot call for trouble. Their attributes are the trident, sword, stick, conch shells, other weapons and musical instruments which reflect their warrior status.
Naga Sadhus – often misunderstood by the western media as part of Indian religious gimmicks – are the epitome of renunciation. They hardly care whether they are misunderstood or called the naked holy men of India or ash-smeared and naked Hindu saints and walk unshaken on the path they have sworn for life.
This video was taken by me on 15th Feb 2013 during Kumbh Mela
In Sanskrit ‘Athiti’ means guest and “Atithi devo bhavaḥ” or अतिथि देवो भवः is a phrase equating guests to God. India is extremely rich in its culture and tradition which traces its roots back to the ancient Vedic stories. The guests in India are treated with extreme respect and are put at an elevated pedestal conforming to all their needs and luxuries. Stories in the Vedas like the one where Lord Vishnu visited his devotee’s house ratify the foundational nature of the tradition deeply engrained in Indian society. But unfortunately with the rise in commercialization and increasing separation from religion among the newer generations, this tradition is gradually dying out. The Kumbh Mela is also subjected to commercialism where people are using religion affinities of people to make money and accommodation is a big part of it. Travel agents have turned the great religious spectacle into a business and charge exorbitant rates from the pilgrims for accommodation and other facilities.
The site recommends accommodation at ISKCON or International Society for Krishna Consciousness’s.
The following table provides the details of the rates and facilities it offers.
The prices include accommodation as described and Prasadam (Food which offered to Lord Krishna).
| Dates | No of Days | No Persons | Swiss Cottage | European Plan |
|
13th to 15th Jan |
3 |
6 |
Rs 11,000 (225$) |
Rs 7,000 (145$) |
|
26th to 28th Jan |
3 |
6 |
Rs 11,000 (225$) |
Rs 7,000 ((145$) |
|
9th to 11th Feb |
3 |
6 |
Rs 21,000 (425 $) |
Rs 15,000 (300 $) |
|
14th to 18th Feb |
5 |
6 |
Rs 21,000 (425 $) |
Rs 15,000 (300 $) |
Based on our personal experience of staying in ISKCON temples we can ensure that you will get
There are many other religious groups having their own camps in Maha Kumbh festival and you can search for them as well to get inexpensive accommodation.
UP Tourism, with the help of ‘Manyawar Kanshiram Institute of Tourism Management’ at Lucknow, has started training service providers on etiquettes, hygiene and first aid in preparation of this mega festival starting from 27-January-2013. With financial support from central government, the state tourism ministry has started two different sets of capacity building programmes to train the service providers through Service Providers (CBSP) and Hunar Se Rozgar Tak (HSRT) schemes.
The All India Post Service would be available right in the waters. The postal department of Allahabad plans to set up floating post offices at Maha Kumbh 2013 to facilitate the devotees and seers. The plan aims to help the pilgrims stay in touch with the other part of the world and send gifts to their friends and relatives.
Various postal services will be provided to the devotees at the festival site including money orders, speed posts, philately, saving accounts and insurance premiums. “Every time during the Kumbh Mela, the Indian Post sets up temporary post offices to help postal transactions for the visitors who attend the event in huge numbers. But this time, in addition to the temporary post offices, there would be floating post offices as well,” said Sachin Kishore, director postal services, UP headquarters.
The department plans to provide boats which would take the letters directly from the devotees and later dispatch the same to their respective destinations, he added.
To keep the Kumbh Mela site free from plastic litters, a team constituted by the Mela authorities is conducting a mass awareness campaign in different parts of the city.
Post warden, civil defence, Rajendra Tiwari said, “We are organising seminars where we are asking people to prepare two cotton bags in every household which in turn would be distributed free of cost to pilgrims coming to the Kumbh Mela. Besides cotton bags, the civil defence volunteers would also hand over paper bags to visitors and tourists to keep the Mela area polythene-free.”
This time the festival authorities plan to make the Mela more Eco-friendly.
Divisional commissioner Divesh Chaturvedi has stated that all work and arrangements for Kumbh Mela must be completed by the concerned authorities by November 30. Additionally, all on-going work should be inspected at least once a week with consequent presentation of its physical report, he said. Chaturvedi instructed the authorities while reviewing the work related to Kumbh at Gandhi gallery.