Author: Kama Maclean Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199713359 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
Today the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, is a major Hindu religious pilgrimage and the largest religious gathering in the world. In 2001, according to the government of Uttar Pradesh, 30 million pilgrims were drawn to the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna on the most auspicious day for bathing. In an impressive feat of organization and administration, the first mela of the new millennium was managed to the overwhelming satisfaction of most, with an impressive health and safety record. The loudest complaint had to do with the intrusive presence of the media. Journalists, largely representing foreign media outlets, had swarmed to the mela, intent on broadcasting to a global audience sensational images of naked (or wet-sari-clad) Indians taking part in "ancient" religious rituals. Resistance to foreign interference with the mela has roots that go back 200 years. The British colonial state and the colonized had different ideas about what the Kumbh Mela represented: for the former, it was a potentially dangerous gathering that demanded tight regulation and control, but for the latter it was a sacred sphere in which foreign domination and interference were intolerable. In this book Kama Maclean examines this tension and the manner in which it was negotiated by each side. She asks why and how the colonial state tried to manipulate the mela and, more important, how the mela changed as Indians responded to the colonial power. In recent years many scholars have emphasized the extent to which the Kumbh Mela has been monopolized by the Hindu nationalist movement. Maclean seeks to situate the history of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad within a much broader context. She explores the role of a pilgrimage fair like the Kumbh Mela in disseminating ideas, particularly political ones like nationalism and ideas about social reform. Kama Maclean tells the mesmerizing and important story of the Kumbh Mela with exciting detail as well as careful scholarly attention, illuminating for the reader the full scope of the event's historical and socio-political context.
Author: Mark Tully Publisher: ISBN: 9788186569221 Category : Fasts & feasts Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Where the Ganges and the Jamna meet people from many,many different traditions of Hinduism come together. Therewill be many genuinely holy men, some charlatans, and someobscurantists. But the majority of those who come to bathe inthe Sangam will be villagers. The Kumbh is an awe-inspiringdemonstration of simple piety and a clear example of the powerof myth.This is a small book presenting the Kumbh Mela, the biggestreligious festival in India. The renowned journalist MarkTully, who has covered with the BBC and as a free-lancer themain events in the recent history of India, gives in his inimitablestyle his impressions of the Kumbh Mela held at Allahabad in1989.
Author: Nityananda Misra Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 9388414128 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 238
Book Description
In this lucid and enlightening account, Nityananda Misra takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through the modern Kumbha Mela, the largest pilgrimage and the biggest festival in the world attended by crores of people. The book details the origin and symbolism of the Kumbha Mela, its dates and venues, and its awe-inspiring organization that has been called a wonder of modern-day management. It provides a personal close-up view of the visitors at the largest human gathering on earth-the sadhus, the kalpavasis, the tirthayatris, and members of new-age Hindu movements. The author sheds considerable light on the cultural aspects (literature, arts, and music) of the Kumbha and argues how the mela is perhaps the most diverse and inclusive human gathering and how the tradition is immortal, as if made so by the nectar of immortality which is believed to have spilled on the sites of the Kumbha Mela. Throughout the book, the author shows how diverse participants come and work together at the Kumbha Mela following the spirit of samgacchadhvam (“come together”)-a spirit that permeates the mela in his view. The author captures his personal experience too in Prayaga, Nashik, and Ujjain, leaving an anecdotal touch to the narrative. The final chapter presents an overview of the upcoming Ardha Kumbha Mela in Prayaga in 2019.
Author: Edgar Bonnet-Behar Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand ISBN: 2322252859 Category : Photography Languages : en Pages : 108
Book Description
Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival and probably the largest spiritual gathering in the world. Hundreds of millions of visitors attended the near month-and-a-half-long event. You will discover here, through photographs and a story, the evolution of cultural curiosity, of a half-declared mystical quest transforming into a spiritual experience of openness and introspective exploration. In Spanish, recordar means to remember. The re invites us to call back or come back, through the cor, through the heart. To remember would therefore be to come back through the heart. I hope that the openness and adventures that have known mine will resonate in yours.
Author: Badri Narain Publisher: Pilgrims Book House ISBN: 9788177698053 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 112
Book Description
Kumbh Mela is the single largest religious congregation or, in fact, human gathering of any kind on Earth. Located at the sacred rivers when Jupiter, Sun and Moon are in precise positions, the Nectar of Immortality flows for blessing all mankind.
Author: J. S. Mishra Publisher: Har-Anand Publications ISBN: 8124109931 Category : Allahabad (India) Languages : en Pages : 145
Book Description
It Is About Mahakumbh-2001 At Allhabad. Presents Mahakumbh In Its Totality Details Of Management Aspects-Highlights The Lessons Learnt From The Successful Execution Of This Mega Event-Suggests Strategies To Effectively Manage Such Mega Events In Future. Well Illustrated. Has 12 Chapters.
Author: Diana L. Eck
Author: Kama Maclean
Author: Diana L. Eck
Author: Mark Tully
Author: Nityananda Misra
Author: Jack Hebner
Author: Edgar Bonnet-Behar
Author: Badri Narain
Author: 
Author: J. S. Mishra