Please Read previous parts of this blog series in the below link:
Day 4
The most important aim of our trip is to visit Mahakumbh. What is mahakumbh? Why is it important? These are some questions which I felt I need to address as part of my blog. Kumbh mela is an important pilgrimage associated with Hindus. It is celebrated approximately every 6, 12 and 144 years and is correlated with the partial or full revolution of Jupiter. Kumbh Mela represents the largest human gathering in the world. The Kumbh Mela originates from the churning of the ocean in Hindu mythology, where gods and demons fought for the Amrit that grants immortality. In order to ensure the Asuras couldn’t claim the amrit, Indra’s son, Jayant, fled with the pot. Accompanying him to guard both Jayant and the amrita were the Sun, Shani (saturn), Brihaspati (Jupiter), and the Moon. The Moon prevented the amrit from overflowing from the pot, the Sun held the pot, Jupiter guarded the pot from demons, and Saturn made sure it was safe and acted as a mediator if any conflict arise. The battle lasted twelve divine days, equivalent to twelve human years. As Jayant fled, drops of the amrita fell at four locations: Haridwar, Prayagraj, Ujjain, and Nashik-Trimbakeshwar. Thus Kumbh Melas are organised at these four destinations. The Kumbh Mela is held four times over the course of 12 years in Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain. The Kumbh returns to each city after completing a cycle of 12 years. The Ardh Kumbh Mela alternates between the sacred locations of Prayagraj and Haridwar. The Ardh kumbh mela is held every six years. The Purna Kumbh Mela occurs every 12 years. Purna Kumbh mela rotates among four holy locations: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik.The planetary alignments of Jupiter and the Sun determine the timing of the Purna Kumbh, making it one of the most significant spiritual gatherings in Hinduism. The Maha Kumbh Mela, the rarest and grandest of all, is held every 144 years (12 Kumbh cycles) in Prayagraj aligning with highly auspicious planetary positions. Having understood the importance of Kumbhmela and rarest maha Kumbhmela, we decide to go to prayagraj. The ultimate goal of our trip is to take dip in the holy triveni sagam. Since we planned for the road trip we decided to visit Varanasi and Ayodhya too which are near to Prayagraj. After our vist to Varanasi, the next stop for us is to visit Kumbhmela.
We started at 5.45 am from hotel to prayagraj. Lots of vehicles were on road from jharkhand, bihar , West bengal etc. It gave a good feeling that whole India is getting united in the name of Kumbhmela. The roads are in excellent condition. But there was a heavy traffic jam and we were struck for almost 3 h in the traffic jam near prayagraj. Then traffic from varanasi were diverted and sent to nageshwar parking near nageshwar ghat.
The walk to ghat was very near to parking. But if you have to go to mela you need to walk along the banks of river ganga for 2 km approx and then cross the rivers by pontoon bridge to reach sector 24.
From there you need to walk till main road and you may get e rickshaws to reach other sectors but they charge you huge. Also even if you are ready to pay they may not agree to take you to far away sectors due to several traffic restrictions in place due crowd. If you are lucky to enter with your car in the mela sectors or you stay in tent city you are lucky as you can cruise around and visit everything you see on YouTube. Or else just reach Triveni Sangam area and have snan and come back.
Triveni sangam is not just the nose where all three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Sarawati meet. Large number of people think that they have to take snan only at this point. There is a whole big area which is part of Triveni Sangam.So need not go to the nose of Sangam by boat and take bath in crowd. Arail ghat, the VIP area is relatively less crowded is downstream of sangam nose.The boating area is at a distance of 500 m plus from arail ghat and the whole crowd consecrates there. Downstream to the triveni sangam there are several other ghats where the rivers ganga , yamuna and 
mystical saraswathi are flowing together after initial meet.
There is a huge crowd to go to sangam nose. So we decided we will take our snan in arail ghat where VIP's floating ramp is present. Arail ghat is less crowded and is very near to sangam nose.
When we were leaving after taking our dip, we saw Haryana CM Mr.Nayab Singh Saini with his family arriving for snan.
Hardly there would have been a feet of distance between us and him. Public were not disturbed during his arrival except for clearing the path on which he was walking. So VIP visit did not affect any of us present there in any manner. After Snan we decided to go back as we got dehydrated a lot. Also there was too much of crowd in other sectors and we were not ready to take risk. We were drenched in the sand dust by the time we reached our car as we had to walk along the ghats.
Image: Picture of Arail ghat the least crowded ghat
Note:
- Take a mask with you when you visit mela and carry a lot of water.
- According to me exploring kumbhmela apart from snan is for people who can walk a lot or for those who can get an accomodation in the tent area.
- If you decide to do a one day trip then your focus should be on snan.
- Some local people are plying bikes in the kumbh mela and they charge Rs.200 per head.
- We saw some sadhus and aghoris during the trip. Some are true while many are frauds. It will be difficult to identify who is true and who is not.
Finally we left around 3 pm from Nageshwar ghat parking and reached back by 5.30 pm to varanasi. Thus we covered our main intention of the trip that is taking a dip in Kumbamela.
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