First ritual bath at Mahakumbh mela begins

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First ritual bath at Mahakumbh mela begins

IANS, 14 January 2010, 09:31am IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-5442851,prtpage-1.cms

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HARIDWAR: To the resonating sound of

Vedic

hymns, conch shells, cymbals and temple bells, the first 'snan', or holy

dip, of the Mahakumbh Mela at Haridwar began in the early hours of Jan 14,

the day when India celebrated

the Makara Sankranti.

Thousands of pilgrims from India, and across the world, dipped into the

achingly chilly waters of the holy river Ganga at Brahma Kund, an embanked

stretch of the river just below the Shiva temple at the Har ki Pauri in the

heart of the temple town on Thursday.

 

A pale sun shone through the mist at dawn as the crowd surged. The bathing

hours will last through out the day and continue Jan 15, the day of Mauni

Amavasya (new moon) and the solar

eclipse.

 

 

The bathers - comprising mostly lay devotees and a few thousand sadhus-

prayed to the sun and Shiva as they immersed themselves in the gushing

torrents of the river at the Brahma Kund to the sound of devotional songs

and prayer bells chiming from the nearby shrines.

 

According to Vedic myths, Hindus believe Haridwar is one of the places where

a drop of 'amrit', or the nectar of immortality, fell from the 'Kumbh'

pitcher when Garuda, the divine bird of Lord Vishnu, was spiriting it away

during the war between the gods and the 'asuras' (demons).

 

Since then, Haridwar, along with Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain - the four

places where a drop of nectar trickled from the pot - have been celebrating

the Kumbh Mela to commemorate the legend with seekers believing that a dip

in the sacred waters at those places will give them immortality.

 

The Mahakumbh Mela occurs every 12 years.

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

Sudhir Srinivasan

B.Arch, Dip.ID, Dip.CAD, Dip.PM, AIIA, IIID, ARIAI

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