Magh Mela

Religious festival celebrated every year
during the entire lunar month of Magh
(January–February) in the city of
Allahabad. According to the Hindu festival calendar, Magh is one of the
months in which bathing (snana) in
sacred rivers is highly praised. This is
particularly significant because
Allahabad lies at the confluence of two
sacred rivers, the Ganges and the
Yamuna River. During this month, pilgrims set up an encampment at the confluence, which becomes a bustling
religious center. During their stay, pilgrims
398
Madya
live a strict and disciplined religious life.
This includes a morning bath, followed
by gift-giving (dana) and worship;
eating a restricted diet, and evenings
spent singing hymns (kirtan) and
listening to religious discourses. Some
pilgrims even take a strict vow, known as
kalpavas, to remain there for the entire
month, a vow which also entails a strict
ascetic lifestyle. More than a million pilgrims attend this festival. Every twelfth
year, when the Magh Mela becomes the
Allahabad Kumbha Mela, attendance
increases. In 1989 an estimated fifteen
million pilgrims came for a single day,
with millions more coming during the
rest of the month.