Somersaults, dance and music during Mahashivratri bath

HARIDWAR - Brandishing glittering swords and flashing silver maces, thousands of bare-bodied Naga Sadhus and saints danced to the beat of drums, turned somersaults and chanted fervently as they rushed towards the revered Ganga to perform the first and much-awaited Shahi Snan (Royal Bath) on the occasion of Mahashivratri Friday, one of the biggest days of the ongoing Kumbh Mela here.

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati on Mahashivratri. It is one of the focal days of the Maha Kumbh Mela, the once-in-12-years festival that promises to become the world’s largest religious gathering this time.

Shahi Snan - also referred to as the royal entourage of the gods - appeared nothing less than a festival when a sea of saints (Akhadas) arrived along the banks of the holy river with their music bands and then showered the Ganga with rose petals and marigolds and sang holy hymns as they were about to enter the water.

The ritual and pristine conglomeration looked endless as hundreds of thousands of heads with matted hair dotted the sprawling vast expanse along both banks of the Ganga.

Thrill and excitement were writ large on their faces that normally remain expressionless, when the Naga Sadhus stepped into the water. At that time, the ghats became vibrant and reverberated with ecstatic shouts of ‘Har Hare Gange’, ‘Jai Ganga Maiya’, ‘Har Har Mahadev’, as the plunged into the river for the Shahi Snan - symbolising their having dedicated themselves to the holy river.

Of the seven Akhadas that were to participate in the Shahi Snan, the Juna Akhada was the first to undertake the royal bath that was followed by the Agni and the Avahan Akhadas.

Juna Akhada, regarded as the most significant, arrived in a long procession that included the largest batch of Naga sadhus, who literally raced on the sandy banks to plunge into the waters.

“As per their traditional belief and rituals, members of the Juna Akhada are the first to undertake the royal bath when the Kumbh Mela is organized in Haridwar,” Anand Vardhan, officer in charge of the Mela, told IANS.

A small group of foreigners, including men and women of varied age-groups, were also members of the Juna Akhada and they too participated in the Royal Bath.

To catch a glimpse of the Shahi Snan and capture it on their cameras, media persons literally jostled for space. In order to get the best shot, some media men, particularly those coming from abroad, were seen perched between pillars of the bridges at the Har-Ki-Pauri Ghat.

“I was compelled to take this place as the entire area is jampacked,” M. Josephine, a French journalist, who sat on a grill between two pillars of the bridge at the Har-Ki-Pauri ghat, told IANS.

As the saints were about to come out of the water, they made it a point to look towards the other devotees and blessed them by raising their hands.

Today, the Shai Snan will continue at around 5:30 p.m. “It would only be after 5:30 in the evening, when we would permit the normal devotees to take a holy dip in the river,” said Vardhan.

The next two Shahi Snans will take place March 15 and April 14, on the occasions of Somwati Amavasya and Baisakhi, respectively.

The Maha Kumbh Mela that began Jan 14 will end April 28 after the Baisakhi Shahi Snan April 14.

According to Hindu mythology, Haridwar is one of the four places where a drop of the nectar of immortality or ‘amrit’ fell from the pitcher or ‘kumbh’ when Garuda, the divine bird of Lord Vishnu, was spiriting it away from the demons after a pitched battle.

Since then, Haridwar, along with Allahabad, Nashik and Ujjain - the other three places - have been celebrating the Kumbh Mela.