Corona Daily 212: World’s Biggest Pilgrimage Kicks Off: Part One

Yesterday, in India’s Haridwar, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered to wash away their sins in the river Ganga (Ganges).

UK’s citizens may be prevented from meeting anyone outside the household; many states in the USA have no ICU beds left; even China has sent 22 million into a strict lockdown following a covid death after months. In India, the Kumbh Mela, humanity’s biggest gathering, kicked off yesterday.

Indian railways have organized special trains. I am still prohibited from travelling in Bombay’s local trains, but I can take a train to Haridwar if I wish. Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister said the Kumbh Mela will be held in its divine form despite the practical problems connected with the pandemic. Religious scholar Shiv Naudiyal asserted the pilgrims will arrive for Kumbh and the holy Ganga dip irrespective of the coronavirus. Because faith transcends all hurdles and boundaries. Not a single school in India has functioned since last March. But faith transcends knowledge and education.

On 16 January, India will start its first phase of the campaign to inoculate 300 million Indians. (As a result, the polio vaccination campaign is postponed. There are only so many vaccines that can be produced, transported and administered.) It may be a good thing that the kumbh mela and the vaccination campaign will run parallelly.

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According to Indian mythology, gods and demons fought over the sacred kumbh (pitcher or urn) of amrit (nectar of immortality). Lord Vishnu, disguised as Mohini, a beautiful enchantress, grabbed it from the demons and whisked it away to heaven. During that journey, four drops of nectar fell from the kumbh on four sacred sites, currently known as Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik, and Prayag. The battle and pursuit lasted for twelve divine days. Each venue celebrates the kumbh mela (fair) every twelve years. The cosmic moment has turned the rivers into amrit, giving pilgrims the chance to bathe in the reservoir of purity, auspiciousness and immortality.

Haridwar had its last Kumbh Mela in 2010. Idiosyncrasies of the Hindu calendar specified 2021 to be an auspicious year, so unusually this Haridwar gathering happens after eleven years. As a pandemic precaution, Kumbh mela 2021 will last for only 48 days instead of the usual three and a half months.

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Unlike in 2010, now the Ganga is clean. The Modi government, in power since 2014, has launched a mission to clean the river. To help the mission, the water ministry has asked for extra funds for toilets and urinals.

Forty companies of central paramilitary forces are deployed to manage the grand jamboree. This year a special COVID officer is appointed. Usually, 100 million visitors may visit the mela. This year, fewer millions are expected due to the pandemic. Haridwar’s 800 hotels and 350 ashramas are ready to welcome the pilgrims.

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Special measures have been introduced for crowd management. For taking a holy dip in the Ganga on the four specified auspicious days (11 March, 12 April, 14 April and 27 April), pilgrims must register at a website and select a specific venue to bathe. The website algorithm will allot a time slot of 15 minutes to each devotee. An e-pass will be issued that will have the route map to make reaching the venue easier.

Hindu ascetics, monks, many of them ash-smeared, some of them naked, enthusiastically take the holy bath. It will be curious to see how they will manage the online registration, and get the e-pass printed. By the way, they also have an option to carry the e-pass on their smartphones.

The mela area and all the 107 ghats (steps leading to a river) are marked with red, yellow and green codes according to the level of vulnerability. The vulnerability refers to crowds rather than the virus. The entire mela is GPS mapped. As soon as any particular site has more than the specified number of people (a few thousands?), the police control room will issue an alert and the security teams will rush there. This is to avoid stampedes rather than contagion.

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(Continued tomorrow.)

Ravi