section_path: Abstract
section_name: Abstract
paragraph_text: Kumbh Mela (Sanskrit: कुम्भमेला, romanized: Kumbha Mēlā, pronounced; lit. ' festival of the Sacred Pitcher ') is an important Hindu pilgrimage, celebrated approximately every 6 or 12 years, correlated with the partial or full revolution of Jupiter. It is the largest peaceful gathering of people in the world.
  
  A ritual dip in the waters marks the festival. It is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass gatherings of monks, and entertainment. The seekers believe that bathing in these rivers is a means to prāyaścitta (atonement, penance, restorative action) for past mistakes, and that it cleanses them of their sins.
  
  In many parts of India, similar but smaller community pilgrimage and bathing festivals are called the Magha Mela, Makar Mela or equivalent. Other places where the Magha-Mela or Makar-Mela bathing pilgrimage and fairs have been called Kumbh Mela include Kurukshetra, Rajim, Mahamaham (Tamil Nadu), Sonipat, and Panauti (Nepal). For example, in Tamil Nadu, the Magha Mela with water-dip ritual is a festival of antiquity, and this festival is held at the Mahamaham tank (near Kaveri river) every 12 years at Kumbakonam, attracting millions of Hindus.
  
  Before 1858, the name "Kumbh" was applied only to the 12th occurrence of an annual mela in Haridwar during April or May. In Allahabad (now Prayagraj), there was an annual Magh Mela in January or February that had found mention in Hindu texts, including Tulsidas 's Ramcharitmanas. The Haridwar mela had been riven by violence, especially by armed Akhara groups. In 1796, during East India Company rule in India, the violence in Haridwar's kumbh had taken 500 lives and a British armed unit with cannon had to be called in to stem it. In 1858, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had been suppressed and the British Raj instituted, Allahabad had become the capital of North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Uncertain about their place in the new political order, the Pragwal s, or members of the traditional priest castes at Allahabad's sangam sought to have some latitude for their profession and proposed the idea of an organised pilgrimage with British surveillance. The British came to accept this in part because of lingering pre-1857 notions of their patronising an idealised Hinduism. The first Kumbh Mela in Allahabad was organised in 1870 with British supervision. By 1870, an adequate beginning had been made in laying a train network in India, which made travel over longer distances easier.
  
  The weeks over which the festival is observed cycle at each site approximately once every 12 years based on the Hindu luni-solar calendar and the relative astrological positions of Jupiter, the sun and the moon. The difference between Prayag and Haridwar festivals is about 6 years, and both feature a Maha (major) and Ardha (half) Kumbh Melas. The exact years – particularly for the Kumbh Melas at Ujjain and Nashik – have been a subject of dispute in the 20th century. The Nashik and Ujjain festivals have been celebrated in the same year or one year apart, typically about 3 years after the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela.
  
  The Kumbh Melas have three dates around which the significant majority of pilgrims participate, while the festival itself lasts between one and three months around these dates. Each festival attracts millions, with the largest gathering at the Prayag Kumbh Mela and the second largest at Haridwar. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica and Indian authorities, more than 200 million Hindus gathered for the Kumbh Mela in 2019, including 50 million on the festival's most crowded day. The festival is one of the largest peaceful gatherings in the world, and considered as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". It has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The festival is observed over many days, with the day of Amavasya attracting the largest number on a single day. According to official figures, the largest one-day attendance at the Kumbh Mela was 30 million on 10 February 2013, and 50 million on 4 February 2019.
  
  Kumbh Mela (Sanskrit: कुम्भमेला, romanized: Kumbha Mēlā, pronounced; lit. ' festival of the Sacred Pitcher ') is an important Hindu pilgrimage, celebrated approximately every 6 or 12 years, correlated with the partial or full revolution of Jupiter. It is the largest peaceful gathering of people in the world.
  
  A ritual dip in the waters marks the festival. It is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass gatherings of monks, and entertainment. The seekers believe that bathing in these rivers is a means to prāyaścitta (atonement, penance, restorative action) for past mistakes, and that it cleanses them of their sins.
  
  In many parts of India, similar but smaller community pilgrimage and bathing festivals are called the Magha Mela, Makar Mela or equivalent. Other places where the Magha-Mela or Makar-Mela bathing pilgrimage and fairs have been called Kumbh Mela include Kurukshetra, Rajim, Mahamaham (Tamil Nadu), Sonipat, and Panauti (Nepal). For example, in Tamil Nadu, the Magha Mela with water-dip ritual is a festival of antiquity, and this festival is held at the Mahamaham tank (near Kaveri river) every 12 years at Kumbakonam, attracting millions of Hindus.
  
  Before 1858, the name "Kumbh" was applied only to the 12th occurrence of an annual mela in Haridwar during April or May. In Allahabad (now Prayagraj), there was an annual Magh Mela in January or February that had found mention in Hindu texts, including Tulsidas 's Ramcharitmanas. The Haridwar mela had been riven by violence, especially by armed Akhara groups. In 1796, during East India Company rule in India, the violence in Haridwar's kumbh had taken 500 lives and a British armed unit with cannon had to be called in to stem it. In 1858, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had been suppressed and the British Raj instituted, Allahabad had become the capital of North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Uncertain about their place in the new political order, the Pragwal s, or members of the traditional priest castes at Allahabad's sangam sought to have some latitude for their profession and proposed the idea of an organised pilgrimage with British surveillance. The British came to accept this in part because of lingering pre-1857 notions of their patronising an idealised Hinduism. The first Kumbh Mela in Allahabad was organised in 1870 with British supervision. By 1870, an adequate beginning had been made in laying a train network in India, which made travel over longer distances easier.
  
  The weeks over which the festival is observed cycle at each site approximately once every 12 years based on the Hindu luni-solar calendar and the relative astrological positions of Jupiter, the sun and the moon. The difference between Prayag and Haridwar festivals is about 6 years, and both feature a Maha (major) and Ardha (half) Kumbh Melas. The exact years – particularly for the Kumbh Melas at Ujjain and Nashik – have been a subject of dispute in the 20th century. The Nashik and Ujjain festivals have been celebrated in the same year or one year apart, typically about 3 years after the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela.
  
  The Kumbh Melas have three dates around which the significant majority of pilgrims participate, while the festival itself lasts between one and three months around these dates. Each festival attracts millions, with the largest gathering at the Prayag Kumbh Mela and the second largest at Haridwar. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica and Indian authorities, more than 200 million Hindus gathered for the Kumbh Mela in 2019, including 50 million on the festival's most crowded day. The festival is one of the largest peaceful gatherings in the world, and considered as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". It has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The festival is observed over many days, with the day of Amavasya attracting the largest number on a single day. According to official figures, the largest one-day attendance at the Kumbh Mela was 30 million on 10 February 2013, and 50 million on 4 February 2019.