Once Indra, the king of gods, came across the sage Durvasa while riding an elephant. The sage offered him a special garland, which Indra accepted but put on the trunk of the elephant. The elephant was irritated by the smell and threw the garland on the ground. This enraged the sage as the garland was a dwelling of fortune and was to be treated as a special gift. Consequently, he cursed him along with all gods to be bereft of all strength, energy and fortune.
Disheartened, the gods visited Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, who advised them to drink amrita, the drink of immortality. Amrita was stored in the milky ocean, and could only be dug out by churning the ocean. Since, it was a rigorous task to churn the ocean, all gods unanimously decided to include the demons in the process. They promised them to share the nectar of immortality and to divide all precious outcome of churning among them equally. The process of churning the ocean of milk is known as Samudra Manthan, which is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas and is celebrated in a big way every twelve years during the Kumbh Mela. The story appears in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Purana besides numerous other scriptures.
Thus all the demons and gods gathered near the ocean of milk. The mountain of Mandara was used as the churning stick or rod and the mythical snake, Vasuki was used as a rope to move the mountain. The gods held the tail of the snake while the demons held the head. Finally the churning process started and continued for long. However, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Here, Lord Vishnu came to their rescue in the form of a turtle Kurma, his second reincarnation and supported the mountain on his back. During the process of churning, Halahala, a pot of poison came out of the milky ocean. This terrified the gods and the demons alike because the poison was so toxic that its effects would have wiped out the entire creation. The gods then approached Lord Shiva for help.
Out of compassion for living beings, Lord Shiva drank the poison. However, Parvati, Shiva‘s consort pressed his neck so that the poison did not reach his stomach. Thus, it stayed in his throat neither going up nor down and Shiva remained unharmed. The poison was so potent that it changed the colour of his neck to blue. For this reason, he is also called Neelakantha, the blue-necked one. The festival of Shivaratri is the celebration of this event by which Lord Shiva saved the entire world.
Many mythological items and persons came out of the ocean during the churning which included Laksmi or the goddess of prosperity and wealth, Sura or the goddess of wine, Chandra or the moon, Apsaras or the celestial nymphs, Kaustabha or the precious gem of Vishnu, Uchchaishrava or the divine horse, Parijata or the wishing coral tree of divine flower, Kamdhenu or the wish-fulfilling divine cow, Airavata or the four-tusked white elephant, Panchajanya or the conch, Sharanga or the invincible bow, and amrita. At last Dhanvantri or the doctor appeared with a pitcher full of nectar of immortality.
The amrita became the cause of fierce fighting between the gods and the demons. When the amrita came out Jayant, the son of Indra, grabbed it and ran away, in order to protect the nectar from demons. The demons chased him and a fierce fight ensued between them. In the course of these events, a small amount of amrita dropped out of the pot and fell at twelve places. Eight of these places are in the heaven and the netherworld while four of these are on the earth—Allahabad, Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik. Since then, these places are believed to have acquired mystical powers, and a Kumbh Mela is celebrated at these four locations every twelve years. The ritual to bathe in the Kumbh Mela developed in order to absorb this amrita.
Although the demons eventually got hold of the nectar and started celebrating. Gods were frightened to see that and they appealed to Lord Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini. As a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini distracted the demons, took the Amrita, and distributed it amongst the gods who drank it. Rahu, one of the demons, disguised himself as a god and drank some of it. Due to the luminous nature, the Sun God and the Moon God, noticed it and informed Mohini. But before the nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head with the divine discus, the Sudarshana Chakra. The head, due to its contact with the Amrita, remained immortal. It is believed that the immortal head of Rahu swallows the sun or the moon, causing eclipses, and he does so in order to gain revenge on Sun and Moon.
The mythological churning as well as various other aspects of the Kumbh Mela suggest and explain the processes of integral yoga. The grafting of the macrocosmic elements and aspects related to the spiritual gathering, represent the microcosmic elements designed to explain the subtle process of integral yoga since the elements of macrocosm and microcosm correspond to each other. The legendary tale represents the spiritual endeavour of a person to achieve enlightenment through concentration of the mind, withdrawal of senses, control of desires and practice of austerities and asceticism.
The body, mind and vital force taking part in the yoga symbolise the chakras, places, and planets. The brain corresponds to Hardwar, the heart to Prayag, the navel to Nashik, and the Muladhara to Ujjain. The gods and demons represent the positive and negative aspects of human propensity. The participation of both divine and hostile together signifies that when one is seeking bliss through spiritual practice, one has to integrate and harmonise both the positive and negative aspects and use them to work for the common goal.
The ocean of milk signifies the mind or the human consciousness which is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean. The Mandara Mountain, also referred to as Meru, symbolises concentration, also corresponding with the vibrating vertebral column. The word Mandara is a combination of two words Mana (mind) and Dhara (the flow in a single line) which means holding the mind in one line. This is possible only through concentration. The mountain was upheld by Lord Vishnu in the form of a tortoise called Kurma. The tortoise here symbolises the support of Mandara as the earth chakra; it also corresponds with the withdrawal of the senses into oneself. This resembles the act when a tortoise withdraws its head into its shell, symbolising the practice of mental concentration and meditation. The snake Vasuki symbolises desire that was used as a rope in the churning of the ocean. It denotes that the demons and the demigods had desire to seek immortality and churned the mind with the help of concentration and withdrawal of the senses. Desire, if not controlled, can overpower and destroy an individual.
The Halahala poison symbolises suffering and pain that is the counter-reaction of the mind and body at the beginning of spiritual practice. When the mind is subjected to intense concentration, the first thing that comes out of the process is intense suffering and great inner turmoil. These must be resolved otherwise further progress is not possible. Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle, and his part of the story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, austerity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism. The various precious objects that came out of the ocean during the churning stand for the psychic or spiritual powers which automatically come during the spiritual progress from stage to stage.
The seeker should be careful of these powers as they can hamper the true progress unless used in justified ways. This is the reason why the gods and demons distributed these objects as they did not want to lose sight of their original aim which was to gain immortality.
The heavenly physician Dhanvantari symbolises health and immortality which can be achieved only when the body and the mind are in a perfect state of health. Mohini symbolises delusion of the mind, originating from pride and lust to which the demons succumbed and thus lost sight of their goal. Pride, lust and ego are the last hurdles that have be to overcome in spiritual life before the realisation of truth. The amrita symbolises the ultimate achievement of the goal. Lakshmi represents universal enrichment which comes as a natural by-product of internal enlightenment. Rahu and Ketu denote attachment and hatred, which eclipse the Sun that represents the soul and the Moon that represents the mind. Guru, the spiritual mentor, corresponds to Jupiter. The superstructure of the Kumbh Mela explains the legends that deal with the process of integral yoga.
The saints and monks, especially the nagas, are the major attraction of the Kumbh Mela. The spiritual and cultural congregation includes various akharas, monasteries, ascetics of different moods and attires, spiritual healers, astroscientists, gemologists, palmists, astrologers, believers of different sects and tradition, missionaries of other religions and pilgrims. Besides them there is a massive gathering of foreign and Indian media persons, tourists from India and abroad and merchants from all parts of India. Many holy men and women including monks, saints and sadhus attending the auspicious festival stay in camps for a couple of months.
The sadhus are seen clad in saffron robes with plenty of sandal coloured powder for ornamental purpose on the body. The nagas generally live an extreme lifestyle, and these sanyasins may often be seen without any clothes even in severe winter. Several activities of such nagas tend to attract a lot of attention as it is in stark contrast to a generally conservative social mindset practiced in today‘s society.
Mathas and akharas camp at the Kumbh township for the full period of Kumbh Mela. The Hindu monasteries are called mathas, and they were formed with an objective to impart intellectual, physical and spiritual training to those who were willing to lead the austere life of an ascetic. The word akhara refers to an arena of a wrestling match, but in the context of the Kumbh Mela, it designates the great congregations of sadhus, members of religious communities, mostly celibate, who are called monks in English.
Different sects have been established at different times; they worship their own deity, and stay in different camps.
The astrological configuration of Kumbh is considered to be especially auspicious among such nagas. They believe that the passage from earth to the higher planets is open at that time, thus allowing the soul to easily attain the celestial world and to attain enlightenment. Kumbh Mela is attended by millions of people on a single day of shahi snan (royal bath), a major event of this festival.
Other activities include religious discussions, devotional singing, mass offering of food to the poor and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardised. Kumbh Mela is the most sacred of all the pilgrimages. It is not restricted to any particular religion, caste or creed. It is an occasion that harmonises the Indian culture, spirit, thought, secularism and symbolises the integrity and oneness of India in spite of different traditions and faiths. These are the reasons why the Kumbh Mela has become so popular among all classes of transcendentalists in India.
Struggle among various groups of nagas and stampedes in the huge gathering of the Kumbh Mela is a well known problem. During the 1954 Kumbh Mela, there was a stampede that occurred on the main bathing day on 3 February in Allahabad. More than eight hundred people died and over a thousand were injured. The stampede was caused when the procession of nagas was passing below the bund in the forenoon. More than fifty people died at the festival ground in a stampede at the Hardwar Kumbh Mela of 1986. Police forces, who had been preparing for the festival for years, were overwhelmed by the crowds pushing towards the river in the Nashik Kumbh. Many people died in a stampede on 27 August 2003. More than thirty-three people died and at least seventy-four were injured. Many people died on the last shahi snan on April 14, 2010 at Hardwar in a stampede.
Unfortunately, the state authority reports only a few people died.
Lack of proper management of sanitation and waste is still a major problem of Kumbh Mela. The sites of Kumbh have usually been vulnerable to epidemics in the past. However, after independence the government has endeavoured to provide better administrative arrangement. Still better arrangements and evolution in management in every sector is needed to ensure a peaceful and a truly spiritual Kumbh Mela.