Manipuri Drummers at Kumbha Mela 2001

[Guest guest]

On Dvadasi day, we inaugurated our Harer Nama Procession with Nitai

Gaurasundara in the Padayatra cart. One hundred Manipuri Dancers have arrived

with HH Bhaktiswarup Damodar Maharaj. People in the Mela were stunned seeing

this colorful Harer Nama party. They have three types of drums, very long and

rather thin clay mridungas, wooden mridangas, and big round drums. They all

have turbans with a little corner of cloth standing up and move with very exact

precission.

 

Maharaj was leading the kirtan with two lines of drummers behind him. At the

intersections (Kumbha Mela roads are about 75' wide) the stop and do incredible

performances, twirling aroung practically doing midair somersaults around their

drums. It is electrifying and draws huge crowds and every camera in the area.

All the media is covering them including BBC. BBC has come many times to our

camp to interview Maharaj and other devotees.

 

Yesterday there were five pictures in one large Hindi newspaper Amar Ujjvala,

including one on the very last page in color of one of the round drummers

setting his drum on the ground and twirling around at a 45 degree angle and

hitting his drum as he comes around each time. Another showed one Ukranian

Mataji, Nandimukhi dancing hand in hand with one tribal woman. The caption

said, Kumbha Mela is not only the sangam of rivers, but the sangam of cultures

also.

 

We have nearly 600 guests and devotees in the camp and the preaching is very

ecstatic. People are buying Srila Prabhupada's books like anything and many

young foreigners are being attracted to devotional service. Krishna has sent us

one Italian Man, one Spanish lady, and one Brazilian girl who are all artists

and they are engaged in painting the backdrops for the dioramas. We are

realizing more and more Srila Prabhupada's incredible mercy. We even notice

that the few foreign devotees in Adri's camp somehow always show up here at

prasadam time. One even engaged in seva of carrying bricks.

 

One of our suppliers told us that the head man of the BBC crew told us that he

has been throughout the Mela, but only THE ISKCON camp has life!

 

In service to Sri Sri Krishna Balaram,

Deena Bandhu dasa