Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) of America (VHPA) congratulates the global community for making this years' Maha Kumbha Mela a resounding success.

"The largest gathering of believers on the planet, an act of faith, and movement of people, on a miraculous scale", that's how the world media describes this event that happens once every twelve years on the banks of the Ganga(River Ganges), in Haridwar, India. Maha-Kumbha Mela, is one of the oldest, continuously running gathering of people from around the world, a festival in celebration of creation itself.

This event, commemorates the allegorical representation of birth of life through the "primordial soup" as scientifically ascribed in the "Theory of Evolution". According to Hindu historical allegory, presented in the Vishnu Puran and the Bhagavat Puran, the Samudra Manthan (Churning of the Oceans ), was done by the combined forces of good and evil, to bring about Amrit (the nectar of immortality). However, when the Kumbha (urn) containing the Amrit appeared, a fight ensued, between both sides. For twelve days and twelve nights the gods and demons fought in the sky for the pot of Amrita. It is believed that during the battle, Lord Vishnu flew away with the Kumbha of elixir spilling drops of Amrit at four places in the current India- Hardwar, Prayag, Ujjain and Nashik - where the Kumbh Mela is ! held to this day. Haridwar, is considered to be the most important of those spots, where the elixir fell.

The first documented description of the Kumbha Mela can be found in the accounts of Chinese traveler, Huan Tsang (602 - 664 C.E.) who visited India in 629 -645 CE, during the reign of the Hindu king Harshavardhana. However, description of observance dates back many centuries to the Hindu Vedic period, where the river festivals first started getting organized. Adi Shankara, the doyen of Advaita Vedanta; one of Hindu Dharma's most popular philosophical schools (darshanas), is known to have played an important role in popularizing the Maha-Kumbha at a global level, more than a thousand years ago. Historians speculate that during the 9th to 12th centuries, other Hindu monks and scholars perpetuated this periodic assemblage, in order to create an environment of mutual understanding and dynamism, within the different philosophical schools in Hindu Dharma. Additionally the festival gave householders the opportunity to benefit from their association with the normally reclusive sages and forest yogis. Kumbha Mela, thus became the pre-eminent pan-Hindu pilgrimage event.

In modern times, Mark Twain the famous American thinker and writer, after visiting, wrote in 1885 - "It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining".

This year's event is being held from January 14, 2010 (Makarsankranti) to April 28 (Vaisakh Aadhimaas Purnima) at Haridwar. It is a microcosm, bringing the world to a riverbank. Officials refuse to cite specific figures about the number of pilgrims, but it runs into several millions. Even those who were not born as Hindus, like Asma Khan, 30, an ethnic Indian who was born a Muslim from Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India, and her husband, Ananda, an Hindu astrologer from the US, merged with the throng of devotees that overran the concrete banks as they went down the steps into the river. "We want to bathe in the river, pray to Lord Shiva and Devi Ma (Mother Goddess) for redemption so that they open up our souls," the couple chorused. Asma added "I always wanted to visit the Kumbh Mela and my husband, a Shiva devotee, insisted that we camp in Ind! ia for four months during the Maha Kumbh". As light evening mist settles over the gushing waters of the narrow embanked stretch of the river at ´Har Ki Pauri´ - home to shrines of Lord Shiva, Ganga and a pantheon of Hindu deities, the snan (bath), starts with the first dip by the Nirajani Akhada, followed by the Juna Garh Akhada, Panchayti Akhada, Naga Sadhus and followed by the Vaishnavas.

Maha Kumbh Mela is about the dynamics of numbers - telling an essentially Hindu story. Hindus from around the world, including those from United States travel to Haridwar by the thousands. For three months, this gathering represents the coming together of Hindu saints, scholars and katha vachaks(anecdoters). They participate in philosophical discussions and meditation sessions with the sankalpa (positive intention) of universal benefit. As the diverse spectrum of Hindu Dharma, in all its hues and shades, plays out on the banks of Ganga in glorious Technicolor; the mind of the visitor for once, comes out of its world of narrow necessities and realizes its place in the infinite. It is euphoria for the "devoted", awe for the "first-timers" and the culmination of another cosmic event that entails positivity for entire humanity at least for a ! dozen years to come.

Contact Details:
Vijay Narang
Director, Media Relations, VHP of America
director_mr@vhp-america.org