Millions Wash Away Sins in India Festival

A L L A H A B A D, India, Jan. 9, 2001 -- Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrimsplunged into the icy waters of the Ganges River before dawntoday, hoping to wash away their sins during a religious festivalthat occurs once every 12 years.

The Kumbh Mela is believed to be one of the largest religiousgatherings in the world. It is expected to draw up to 65 millionpeople before it ends Feb. 21.

The Times of India said pop diva Madonna and Hollywoodstars Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Richard Gerecould join what is billed as the world’s largest spiritual gathering.

In the 2 a.m. darkness, with temperatures dipping to 3 degreesCelsius (38 Fahrenheit), devotees folded their hands in prayer.They daubed ash or sandalwood paste on their foreheads, handedmoney or food to beggars waiting on the shore, and rushed into thefrigid water.

“This has become a family ritual and tradition,” said95-year-old Malti Agarwal, who came from the eastern city ofCalcutta with her family of 40. “We do it at every Kumbhfestival.”

Devotees continued to surge toward the waters after dawn broketoday. Officials said nearly 2 million people were estimated tohave bathed in the first six hours. The festival administrator,Jivesh Nandan, said he expected 4.2 million to bathe in the riverby the day’s end.

Washing Away Sins

The 43-day festival takes its name of Kumbh Mela from Hindumythology when the gods seized a pot of nectar that made theminvincible in their war against the demons.

One of the gods made off with the pot, spilling drops on 12spots, four of them in India and the rest in the heavens. One dropis said to have fallen where the Ganges joins the Yamuna River andthe mythical Saraswati River.

Hindus believe that bathing at the confluence of three sacredrivers on an auspicious day will absolve them of sin and speed themto nirvana after death.

“Most of the people think that the sins we have created arewashed away here,” said Mohan Sharma, as she stood in the coldwater, fully clothed in a bright sari.

Naked men with long hair and beards, members of a warrior sectof holy men called Naga Sadhus, marched toward the river banksholding hands or flailing spears and long poles. Orange-robedpriests walked alongside women who led children to the water by thehand.

Hundreds of buses, trucks and cars heading to the festivalgrounds led to chaos on all the four roads approaching Allahabad,about 360 miles southeast of New Delhi.

Terror Fears

Thousands of soldiers and police — equipped with closed-circuittelevision and bomb detectors — guarded against terrorist attacks,stampedes and crime among the pilgrims crowding in tents orsleeping outside in the winter cold.

In 1954, about 800 pilgrims died when the Kumbh Mela was held inAllahabad. In 1984, about 200 people were killed in a stampede inthe Hindu holy town of Hardwar.

Adding to fears of unrest, a Hindu nationalist organizationaffiliated with the governing Bharatiya Janata Party said itplanned to use the festival to announce the date for building acontroversial temple on the site of a demolished Muslim mosque.

The demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya, 340miles east of New Delhi, in December 1992 by Hindu nationalistssparked religious riots that killed 2,000 people across India.

Every three years, Kumbh Mela festivals are rotated among thefour spots where nectar from the gods’ pot was said to havespilled: Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardwar. But the event inAllahabad is considered the holiest.

Commercial activity — except for the sale of vegetarian food —is banned during the festivities. Sales were brisk, however, forflowers the devotees offered in temples, the vermilion they dottedonto their foreheads, and for watches that purported to tell thebest bathing times.