Kumbha Mela

Study on Kumbha Melā (Hindu festival) at Allahabad; includes articles on it's management, infrastructure and planning.

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.

Kama Maclean covers the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, which is not merely a major Hindu religious pilgrimage but the largest religious gathering in the world.

Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival and probably the largest spiritual gathering in the world. Hundreds of millions of visitors attended the near month-and-a-half-long event. You will discover here, through photographs and a story, the evolution of cultural curiosity, of a half-declared mystical quest transforming into a spiritual experience of openness and introspective exploration. In Spanish, recordar means to remember. The re invites us to call back or come back, through the cor, through the heart. To remember would therefore be to come back through the heart. I hope that the openness and adventures that have known mine will resonate in yours.

This Book Relating To Kumbh Mela Looks At The Linkage Between Religious, Historical,Scientific And Social Aspets Defining This Festival-What Brings A Vast Humanity To The Mela At Specified Times. 2 Parts Containing Containing 8 Chapters-References.

It Is About Mahakumbh-2001 At Allhabad. Presents Mahakumbh In Its Totality Details Of Management Aspects-Highlights The Lessons Learnt From The Successful Execution Of This Mega Event-Suggests Strategies To Effectively Manage Such Mega Events In Future. Well Illustrated. Has 12 Chapters.

A study of the famous Indian festival that occurs once every 12 years.

Study on Kumbha Melā (Hindu festival) at Allahabad; includes articles on it's management, infrastructure and planning.