Through history, the Mela has held different meanings for ascetics, the colonised, colonisers, and tourists, but all have been moved by its grandeur points out Atanu Biswas.
No official estimate is available about the number of sadhvis and sanyaasins at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, but there is no dearth of women who have left their families behind and 'surrendered themselves to God's service'.
No official estimate is available about the number of sadhvis and sanyasins at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela, but there is no dearth of women who have left their families behind and 'surrendered themselves to God's service'.
The Juna Akhara, one of the largest sects of seers in the country, announced the end of its participation in the Kumbh Mela on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal that participation in the ongoing gathering in Haridwar be kept symbolic in view of the surge in coronavirus cases.
More RT-PCR test reports are awaited and the trend shows that the number of infected persons in the Kumbh Mela Kshetra is likely to climb to 2,000.
Nirvani Ani Akhada president Mahant Dharmdas said that only the mela officer or the chief minister has the right to announce the "end of the Kumbh Mela".
Most of the devotees have already left and the akhadas have been winding up their camps one after another.
Rarely have we seen such intoxication over power, which ignores the cries of those dying, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
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