The Kumbh Mela in 2001

On 6 February 1989 an estimated fifteen million pilgrims traveled to Allahabad in India on the occasion of the most recent full Kumbh Mela there. According to The Guiness Book of Records, this was the "greatest recorded number of human beings assembled with a common purpose" in history. The next Kumbh Mela will be held in Allahabad in 2001. According to the Tourist Office of the government of the state of Uttar Pradesh, which manages the festival, the main bathing date will be on Mauni Amavasya on 24 January 2001. The same source indicates that 14 January (Makar Sankranti), 24 January, and 29 January 2001 (Basant Panchami) will be the dates of the shahisnans, when the communities of renouncers at the Kumbh march to bathe in the Ganges in grand royal processions. The Web site of the UP Tourist Office lists the following bathing dates:

9 January 2001, Paush Purnima
14 January 2001, Makar Sankranti
24 January 2001, Mauni Amavasya
29 January 2001, Basant Panchami
8 February 2001, Magh Purnima and
21 February 2001, Mahashivratri.

For more information about the 200l, check out:

the official government Kumbh Mela site at http://www.kumbhallahabad.com;
another official site with information about the festival in Hindi at http://www.webdunia.com/kumbhupinfo/;
the Kumbh Mela site of the Channel Four Television in the United Kingdom with audio, video, and panoramic pictures at http://www.channel4.com/kumbhmela;
the BBC's site, which includes not just reports about the Kumbh but also audio and video clips of the festival at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1106000/1106514.stm;
the Kumbh Mela Times of the Himilayan Institute at http://www.kumbhamelatimes.org/; and
an alternative culture Web magazine, zenzibar.com, a site with some text and pictures at http://zenzibar.com/Articles/kumbhamela/index.asp.

Thanks to Stephen Berkwitz Royce Carlson, Cesar Godoy, and Ann Newling,

Copyright J. E. Llewellyn 2001. Updated 4 September 2002.

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