{"id":6265,"date":"2016-05-15T10:33:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T10:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=6262&amp;preview_id=6262"},"modified":"2016-05-15T10:33:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-15T10:33:34","slug":"kumbh-mela-one-of-the-greatest-pilgrimages-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=6265","title":{"rendered":"Kumbh Mela: One of the greatest Pilgrimages in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-68162\">\n<div class=\"td-post-content\">\n<p><strong>By Pashchiema Bhatia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kumbh Mela (\u2018<em>Kumbh<\/em>\u2019 means pitcher and \u2018<em>Mela<\/em>\u2019 means fair in Hindi) is hosted in four cities \u2013 Ujjain, Allahabad, Haridwar and Nasik and held every third year at one of the four places by rotation. According to Hindu legend, during samudra manthan (churning sea to separate nectar and poison), Gods and demons were having fight over the nectar and then Lord Vishnu flew away with the pot of nectar spilling drops of nectar at four different places; where we celebrate Kumbh Melas. It is considered as one of the largest religious gathering where millions of people arrive and bathe in the sacred rivers \u2013 The Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar, the confluence (Triveni Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godavari at Nasik and the Shipra at Ujjain. Millions of Hindu pilgrims come either in groups or individually and celebrate the event with great enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_68252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_68252\" style=\"width: 772px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bathing_ghat_on_the_Ganges_during_Kumbh_Mela_2010_Haridwar.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68252\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-68252 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bathing_ghat_on_the_Ganges_during_Kumbh_Mela_2010_Haridwar.jpg\" alt=\"Bathing Ghats Of Ganga Image: Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"762\" height=\"335\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-68252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bathing Ghats Of Ganga Image: Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Ujjain, an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, is located on the eastern bank of the Shipra River. It is considered as one of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) of the Hindus. People believe that taking a royal bath in sacred Shipra River on the occasion of Kumbh Mela washes all the sins of previous births and hence the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsgram.com\/indian-pilgrims-overwhelmed-in-pakistan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pilgrims <\/a>consider it as an opportunity to get them revived from the never ending birth cycle. The Kumbh Mela hosted at Ujjain is known as \u2018Simhastha Kumbh Mela\u2019. (22 April 2016 \u2013 21 May 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_68254\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_68254\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Ram_ghat.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68254\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-68254 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Ram_ghat.jpg\" alt=\"Ram Ghat, Ujjain Image: Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"350\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-68254\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ram Ghat, Ujjain Image: Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Allahabad Magh (Kumbh) Mela is held every year on the banks of Triveni Sangam (the confluence of the three great rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati) in Prayag near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The Magh Mela is also referred as Mini Kumbh Mela as it is actually a smaller version of Kumbh Mela.<strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Haridwar is considered as one of the most sacred places in India and it is situated at the feet of Shiva\u2019s hills; Shivaliks. Millions of devotees take dips in bone-chilling cold weather of holy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsgram.com\/ganga-talao-or-grand-bassin-the-sacred-lake-in-mauritius\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ganga<\/a> at the occasion of Ardh Kumbh Mela.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_68253\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_68253\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Third_Shahi_Snan_in_Hari_Ki_Pauri.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68253\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-68253 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.newsgram.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Third_Shahi_Snan_in_Hari_Ki_Pauri.jpg\" alt=\"Har ki Paudi Ganga Image: Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-68253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Har ki Paudi Ganga Image: Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Kumbh Mela in Nasik (Trimbakeshwar) is celebrated once in every twelve years and is known as Sinhasta. The Kumbh Mela is marked by millions of devotees\u2019 plunging into the river Godavari that is believed to cleanse their souls leading to salvation.<\/li>\n<li>The Simhastha Kumbh Mela at Ujjain is currently on-going. The first Snan (Bathe) on April 22 marked the beginning of the event and the last Snan is scheduled for 21 May on the day of Purnima (Full Moon Night).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<footer><\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsgram.com\/kumbh-mela-one-of-the-greatest-pilgrimages-in-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kumbh Mela: One of the greatest Pilgrimages in the World | News Gram<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Pashchiema Bhatia Kumbh Mela (\u2018Kumbh\u2019 means pitcher and \u2018Mela\u2019 means fair in Hindi) is hosted in four cities \u2013 Ujjain, Allahabad, Haridwar and Nasik and held every third year at one of the four places by rotation. According to Hindu legend, during samudra manthan (churning sea to separate nectar and poison), Gods and demons [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1159,18],"tags":[1538,118,242,1161],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}