"The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, around which
are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories
and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age long culture and civilization,
ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga."
Jawaharlal Nehru – 1st Prime Minister of India 1947 - 1964
Nothing in the world can quite compare with the colour, gaiety, wellbeing or religious
fervour of Indian festivals. And no Indian festival can quite equal the vibrancy of the Kumbh
Mela – held in worship of the sacred River Ganges, of the age-old battle of Good versus evil
and of the obvious and ultimate victory of good.
All major Indian festivals are related to the worship of water and the rivers in one form
or the other. The Kumbh, however, takes precedence over them all, as the festival that
worships the life-giving Ganga or “Ma Ganga” (Mother), as the river is referred to.
The holiest of all the rivers, Ganga or the Ganges is a perennial river, held in high regard
by the Hindus. The Ganga has an exalted position in the Hindu ethos. It is repeatedly invoked
in the Vedas, the Puranas, and the two Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Babies
are baptized in the river because it is believed it has qualities that cleanses the child;
Similarly, when a Hindu dies and is cremated, the ashes are released into the river, for it
is believed that only then does the soul receive absolution and is free to join its’ source,
the “Maker”.
The Ganga is also worshipped as a goddess, Ganga Devi, one of the two daughters of Meru
(the Himalayas), the other being Uma, the consort of Lord Shiva.
