Evolution of Khumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela reveals a side of Hinduism that is often not talked about.

It is not about temples, gods, devotion, songs, or saints.

• It is primarily a ritual, dominated by boisterous masculine energy embodied in naked ascetics (digambara).
• These ascetics are covered with ash (bhabhut), with matted hair (jata), and hold staffs (dandi).
• They belong to various gymnasiums (akhara).
• They evoke the followers (gana) of the wild form of Shiva (Bhairava).
• It's a ritual gathering, not about meditation or contemplation.
• It is about taking a dip in a particular spot in the river at the right time, after it's consecrated by bathing ascetics.
• The roots can be argued to be Tantrik, involving the body (tanu, in Sanskrit).
• Such rituals happen in many parts of India, where the ash-smeared ascetics congregate.
• These ascetics likely originated in the east, in the Terai region, and challenged the Vedic order from the western Punjab region, possibly around 1000 BC. They clashed at Gangadwar, now called Haridwar; an event captured in the Mahabharata where the ascetic Shiva beheaded Daksha, the Brahmin patriarch.
• These ascetics (some with skulls) have been known as Pashupata, Kapalika, Kalamukha.They changed over time, becoming milder and influenced by ideas like Nathism, Vaishnavism, even Sikhism.Currently, they are called Naga (from nagna or naked).
• The ascetics' wandering calendar is determined by the movement of the moon (every month), sun (every year) and Jupiter (every 12 years) through the Zodiac.
• It was known as Kumbh in Haridwar and Simhastha in Nashik when Jupiter was in the Aquarius (Kumbh) and Leo (Simha) constellations.
• Calling all gatherings "Kumbh" and linking it to "nectar of immortality" is a branding effort that began after 1857 to reaffirm the Hindu identity, threatened by the new British regime.

• The akharas typically trace their origin to Adi Shankaracharya, who popularized Vedanta in the 8th century. He opposed Buddhism, not Islam.
• Stories of Adi Shankara's wanderings, resistance, and debates were codified in the 13th century by Brahmin scholars of the Vijayanagar Empire.They saw Hinduism threatened by the arrival of Turks from Central Asia.
• Unlike earlier Huna, Saka, and Kushan hordes from Central Asia, these Turks were not just incomers seeking wealth and power. They were seeking to change the local culture, known as "Turuku Dharma."
• "Turuku Dharma" involved a formless god, rejection of idols, and a strict form of worship in a community hall, facing west, where caste rules didn't matter. "Turuku Dharma" is now referred to as Islam.
• The warrior-ascetic tradition of Hinduism became prominent after 1500 AD in reaction to the rising power of Islam. Mystical musical Sufis were mirrored by mystical musical sants of Hinduism.

• Militaristic Ghazis were challenged by aggressive Nagas.
• Nagas protected trading caravans and received patronage of kings and merchants, mostly in river basins of Ganga (Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Ujjain) and upper Godavari (Nashik).
• These zones were contested in the 18th century between the waning Mughal power and the waxing Maratha rule.

• Words like shahi and Peshwai reveal Persian-Maratha influence and this culture is not prominent in the South.
• Celibacy was key for ascetics, as was caste, though it's currently downplayed.
• This celibacy was not mere renunciation as preached by Buddhist and Jain monks but was about power (siddhi).
• Siddhi was obtained by retaining and ritually charging bodily fluids, and using the power of mind and mantra to push fluids up the spine to germinate inside the head.
• Only men could do this, granting them occult powers.
• These powers included walking on water, flying, travel on wild animals, shape-changing, and controlling minds.
• These were the original "Jedi" masters, depicted in Tantric Buddhist art of the Himalayan region.
• Warrior-ascetics were containers of great power, sought after by kings for military glory.
• These medieval ideas, popular since Adi Shankaracharya, are now downplayed, even forgotten.
• The power of these warrior ascetics is in their bodily fluids, soaked by special cow-dung ash smeared on limbs which gets washed off during "Shahi Snan." This makes the water special, nectar-like, capable of transforming health and fortune.
• The potency is increased by the perfect alignment of stars and planets at the confluence of Ganga (from the sky), Yamuna (terrestrial), and Saraswati (subterranean).

• The Kumbh Mela is distinctly male, ascetic, ritualistic, occult, military and royal in nature; about displays of Hindu power.
• It is about mighty Bhairava of the mountains, mighty Hanuman of forests, and mighty Dattatreya of the plateaus.
• We can couch it in Vedic words like atma (soul) and moksha (liberation) and dharma (order), but it's primarily about siddhi (enlightenment) and shakti (power) revealed in the Tantras.