January 10, 2001
Millions at Holy Festival Bathe in Ganges
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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LLAHABAD, India, Jan. 9 (AP) — Millions of Hindus, hands clasped in prayer, plunged into the icy Ganges River today hoping to wash away their sins at the opening of a festival that falls every 12 years — and is especially auspicious on this day because of the lunar eclipse.
"I have come here to get a new life, to wash away the sins I have committed in the last few years," said Pratap Garh, a teacher who was wearing only a loincloth as the temperature dropped to 38 degrees.
Millions flocked to a sacred riverbank on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival today, and as many as 65 million are expected to dip into the river for a holy bath during the 43-day celebration. The Kumbh Mela festival derives its name from a Hindu story of a battle between gods and demons over a kumbh, or pot, of a divine nectar of immortality. Legend has it that four drops of nectar spilled from the pot, near four blessed cities. While the cities alternate holding Kumbh Mela, the festival in Allahabad, 360 miles east of New Delhi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is considered the most blessed because it lies near the confluence of rivers held sacred by Hindus: the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mystical Saraswati.
Six days during the first festival of the new millennium are considered particularly auspicious bathing days, including today, which falls during a total lunar eclipse, said the festival director, Jivesh Nandan. By 2 a.m., men, women and children had gathered by the river, some of the men arriving naked or stripped to their underwear and some of the women with shaved heads. Many had daubed ash or sandalwood paste on their foreheads and were slipping offerings of money or food to beggars along the shore. Some brought metal pails to take home some of the sacred water. Others soaked pieces of clothing. Most commercial activity was prohibited, but vendors were doing brisk sales of flowers for temple offerings, vermilion for daubing on the forehead and watches that purported to reveal the best bathing times.
"Most of the people think that the sins we have committed are washed away here," said one worshiper, Mohan Sharma, as she stood in the water, fully clothed in a bright sari.
Nearly two million people are estimated to have bathed in the waters during the first six hours of Kumbh Mela and two million more are expected by the end of the day, Mr. Nandan said. The festival ends on Feb. 21.