“Holy Dip”– Indian
Bathing Festivals
EVERY YEAR MILLIONS OF HINDUS UNDERTAKE SOME FORM OF PILGRIMAGE, MANY OF
WHICH FEATURE RITUAL BATHING, OR THE DELIGHTFULLY NAMED “HOLY DIP.” TODAY MORE
PEOPLE THAN EVER ARE MAKING THESE PILGRIMAGES, AND THE NUMBER OF
RELIGIOUS GATHERINGS, OR MELAS, IS GREATER THAN EVER.
Pilgrim receiving a little extra encouragement to let the cold waters of the Bay of
Bengal wash away her sins at the Ganga Sagar Mela.
OPPOSITE Pilgrims bathing in the Ganges at Varanasi during the Dev Deepavali festival.
ABOVE
The great Hindu bathing festivals of India are vast gatherings. Viewed from afar, the
crowds, measured in the uniquely Indian denominations of lakhs, or 100,000, and
crores, or 10 million, appear like teeming ants. Almost unimaginable numbers of people
flock to points along one of India’s seven sacred rivers to bathe and earn good karma.
Devout Hindus believe in reincarnation: that the soul is continuously reborn until it
is freed from the cycle of samsara by the attainment
of enlightenment, moksha or nirvana. There are a
number of ways of doing this, involving good deeds
and righteous living. A short cut is through pilgrimage
and the “holy dip.” The more auspicious the location
and time of bathing, the more effective the spiritual
cleansing.
Sometimes the bathing ritual is carried out
according to arcane and ancient texts, but more often
it is a joyous bath, with pilgrims soaping themselves,
laughing, splashing, and ducking under the waters.
It is an inclusive ritual too: tourists and spectators will
invariably be invited to partake in their own holy dip,
irrespective of their religious beliefs.
Auspicious times are usually fixed by the lunar
cycle and change in relation to the Julian, solar
calendar. Over the years, at particularly auspicious
bathing dates, so many pilgrims have wanted to
bathe that great festivals have grown up. These large
gatherings have each taken on their own life
and character.
At the sacred Lake Pushkar, under the Kartik
LEFT Pilgrims watching
elephants being bathed
at the Sonepur Mela
in Bihar.
Poornima full moon (in October–November), tribal people from Rajasthan gather to
ABOVE Taking a “holy dip”
at the Ganga Sagar Mela.
the ritual bathing is more important than the camel trading, which is a secondary,
bathe and trade camels. Over the years tourists have made their own pilgrimage to the
Pushkar Mela, which has been renamed the Pushkar Camel Fair, although for the locals
commercial activity.
lotus flower used by Lord Brahma to slay the demon Vajranabha. The lake is considered
one of the most holy places in India, and alcohol and all animal products are banned
from the town.
The camel trading peaks in the days leading up to the full moon, then many of the traders
and tourists drift away. The number of pilgrims peaks on the full moon and the steps, or
ghats, that line the edge of the lake are thronged with people all night and well into the day.
INDIAN BATHING FESTIVALS
Pushkar Lake was believed to have been formed by a petal that dropped from the
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ABOVE At the Sonepur Mela,
pilgrims bathe at the
confluence of the Rivers
Gandak and Ganges.
Bathing close to an
elephant is deemed
particularly auspicious.
Many of the pilgrims camp out all night
The Sonepur Mela in Bihar is the largest livestock fair in Asia. Here you can buy horses,
goats, sheep, chickens, cattle, and even buffalo, but the biggest draw is the haathi, or
in makeshift shelters. To help them find their
elephant, bazaar, where scores of elephants are traded. The elephants are bathed and
way, the main paths through the Mela
decorated to get the best price, and are kept in camps under ancient shady trees. Officially
ground to the sea are lit by colored lights:
it is not possible to buy or sell elephants, so they are traded with elaborate leases.
red, green and blue. Adding to the unworldly
feel, there is often a deep fog, illumined by
One of the oldest festivals in India, the Sonepur Mela dates back to a mythical
these garish colors.
struggle between two gods in the shape of a crocodile and an elephant. Pilgrims come
After bathing, pilgrims head to the
Around 3 lakhs of people can turn up on the main bathing day, crowding the village and
Kapilmuni temple, passing dozens of naga, or
prompting the police to set up a large one-way system for pedestrians. Most don’t stay
naked, sadhus, extreme ascetics or holy men,
here, arriving early in the morning, bathing, then attempting to reach the small temple on
who proffer blessings for a few rupees. These
the banks of the Ganges before fitting in a bit of shopping and heading home.
sadhus, who are less fearsome than those at
Not all Indian bathing festival dates are fixed by the moon. The Ganga Sagar Mela,
which takes place on Sagar Island in the mouth of the Ganges River Delta in West
Bengal, is unique as it is set by the solar calendar. It is held on the same day every
TOP Rituals, including
prayers and offerings,
accompany the “holy dip”
on a foggy morning at the
Ganga Sagar Mela.
Up to 5 lakhs of pilgrims gather to bathe in the mouth of the Hooghly (a tributary of the
The holiest site in Hinduism is Varanasi, the ancient city on the banks of the Ganges
in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Often referred to as the oldest living city in the world, it
attracts vast numbers of pilgrims throughout the year who aim to bathe, and sometimes
year, Makara Sankranti (14 January), when the sun begins its journey north, and the
winter officially begins to turn to summer.
the Kumbh Mela, are often obscured by a haze of hashish smoke.
Sadhu at prayer on
the shore of Lake Pushkar
in Rajasthan.
ABOVE
to die and be cremated, here. At auspicious times of the year, the numbers of pilgrims
swell, but the festival that is most spectacularly associated with the city is Dev Deepavali.
Ganges) as it flows into the Bay of Bengal It is a strange and atmospheric sight, watching
On this day, when the gods are thought to come to earth, countless tiny lamps are lit
hordes of pilgrims heading down to the beach to bathe in the dead of night. The ritual involves
and placed on the ancient ghats that lead down to the river as pilgrims bathe in the cold
an element of suffering, too: the nights are very cold and the water can be all but freezing.
waters of the Ganges.
INDIAN BATHING FESTIVALS
AROUND THE WORLD IN 500 FESTIVALS
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to bathe under the full moon at the confluence of the holy Ganges and Gandak rivers.
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The Kumbh Mela
BELOW LEFT Pilgrims bathing
at sunset at the Kumbh
Mela at Haridwar.
BELOW RIGHT Ganga Aarti
evening prayers at the Har
Ki Pauri Ghat, Kumbh
Mela, Haridwar.
The largest of all of the Hindu bathing festivals – in fact, the largest gathering of humans on
the planet – is the Kumbh Mela. Dating back to ancient history, the Kumbh Mela is held in
four different places over a complicated rotating twelve-year schedule.
The origins of the Kumbh Mela lie in Hindu mythology, in a battle between the Gods
and the Demons over a pitcher (or kumbh) of amrit – the nectar of immortality. During
a twelve-day titanic struggle four drops of nectar fell to earth at four different locations:
Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. One god day is equivalent to a human year,
which leads to the twelve-year schedule.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 500 FESTIVALS
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OPPOSITE Akhara of sadhus
processing to Har Ki Pauri
Ghat during the Kumbh
Mela, Haridwar.
Elephant and
pilgrims crossing the
Ganges on one of the
temporary pontoon bridges
constructed by the Mela
authorities.
OVERLEAF
The most auspicious of the locations is Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, where pilgrims
bathe in the sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the
mythical Saraswati. Every twelfth Allahabad Kumbh Mela is designated a Mahakumbh,
or Great Kumbh, and the last Mahakumbh Mela in 2001 was the single largest
gathering of people with a single intent there has ever been.
Over the six or seven weeks of the festival, estimates ranged as high as 100 million
pilgrims. Certain days, we have seen, set by solar and lunar constellations, are
designated as particularly auspicious, and on these days the numbers of pilgrims peak.
On the main bathing day of the 2001 Mahakumbh estimates ranged as high as 35
million pilgrims – making the temporary Mela ground one of the largest cities in the
world by population.
OPPOSITE
Followers of the Juna
akhara in procession on
one of the main bathing
days of the Maha Kumbh
Mela 2001 at Allahabad.
RIGHT
Naga (naked) sadhus
of the Juna akhara line up
to bathe at the Ujjain
Kumbh Mela.
OVERLEAF TOP
Mela ground constructed
for the 2001 Maha Kumbh
Mela at Allahabad, the
largest ever gathering of
humans on the planet.
OVERLEAF BOTTOM
Pilgrims bathing on one of
the auspicious bathing
days at the Maha Kumbh
Mela at Allahabad.
As well as pilgrims, the Kumbh Mela is noted for the legions of sadhus who turn up
to bathe. Some of these are formed into great organizations, or akharas. The most
fearsome of these are the naga sadhus who walk around covered only in the ash from
fires, sport great dreadlocks, and smoke charas (cannabis resin) as an integral part of
their veneration of Lord Shiva.
The three or four most auspicious days of the Kumbh Mela are designated shahi
snans, or royal bathing days. On these the akharas process to the sangam to bathe.
The largest of these is the Juna akhara, with thousands of members who carry tridents
and swords and are an ancient and fearful sight. They have been known to attack
In Haridwar the pilgrims bathe in the Ganges at the concrete Har Ki Pauri Ghat. This is
where the Ganges flows out of the Himalayas, and the waters are cold and so fast-flowing
that pilgrims have to hold on to chains fixed to the ghat to avoid being washed away.
As Allahabad and Haridwar are considered the most auspicious Kumbh locations,
they also hold an ardh, or half Kumbh, every six years.
At Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh pilgrims bathe in the slow-flowing Shipra River.
Although one of the smaller Melas, it still attracts tens of millions of pilgrims. This
Kumbh Mela is also known as the Simhastha.
INDIAN BATHING FESTIVALS
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people who offend them, or get in their way, with virtual impunity.
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