Description
Where the Ganges and the Jamna meet people from many, many different traditions of Hinduism come together. There will be many genuinely holy men, some charlatans, and some obscurantists. But the majority of those who come to bathe in the Sangam will be villagers. The Kumbh is an awe-inspiritng demonstration of simple piety and a clear example of the power of myth.
Of course the Kumbh mela is a magnificent spectacle too. Millions of people gathered in one place, colourful homy men, naked sadhus, wondrous feats of asceticism, piety on a scale unparalleled anywhere else. But much more than a spectacle, the Kumbh Mela is an experience, an experience for which we have to shed our cetainties and our self-confidence to be able to capture its meaning through the power of the imagination.
