Workshop on Pilgrimage: The Kumbha Mela
Session 3 Notes
September 24, 2012
Purpose: These notes, by Susan Holman (HGHI staff and HDS alumna) are provided - for internal reference only - as short “draft”
summaries of Harvard University South Asian Studies 150: Workshop on Pilgrimage: The Khumba Mela (Harvard College/GSAS 88766),
Fall 2012-2013, taught by Diana Eck (Religion) and Rahul Mehrotra (Design). The purpose of these notes is to aid HGHI’s support of this
course-based collaboration and anticipated development of public goods related to urbanization and global health.
Meets: Mondays 3-5 in CSIS South S040
Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k87818&login=yes
Summary of Today’s Session:
Coming Soon:
Next week we will have two guest speakers:
1) Nashid Nabian, who works on cellular technology, urban sensing, and crowd-densing.
2) Sue Goldie, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, who is working with our planning group.
By the end of the coming week, students should watch for a posted research application for the
January session. Over the next couple of weeks, students should think about their desired projects and
plan to meet with Diana, Rahul, and Sue Goldie to talk about the projects. With so many students in
the course, we want to be sure that the research paper will truly provide you with a grounding.
Today’s Content Discussion:
Today’s session began with an ~15 minute excerpt from the film, “Shortcut to Nirvana.” Jenny Bordo
will post it on the course website for viewing. Random notes: one sadhu spoke of samadu (sp?), a
deeply meditative state, practiced by a Japanese woman in the film who spends time during the Mela
buried in a pit. Another speaks of this essence as “silence, nothingness, hope.” Two Westerners
reflecton what brought them to the Mela (one is an MPH nurse from NYC). On westerners, see also
Kama Maclean’s focus on “seeing and being seen” in this week’s readings. Another sadhu emphasized
the role of ritual, defining it as offering one’s life to God; “sankalp” (sp?), the ritual of prayer. Many
examples of street theater (leilas). Overall, the film clip highlighted gurus present, some pretty
spectacular in their asceticism, almost entertainment. Performances, called “tamasha (sp?), translate
something like “mash ups”! Much noise from musical bands, processions with (intentional)
entertainment. Photos of people smoking ganja. We get a visual sense of the weather: winter
mornings, fog and smoke. We see the emphasis on sitting with the holy ones (by sitting with them you
absorb their holiness). Clip ended with bathing ritual on an astonishingly empty stretch of water. No
one wants to leave the festival without bathing.
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Our topical focus for this session was the rivers --the Ganga and Yamuna. Diana notes, “This is, after all,
the reason people come to the Kumbh Mela: to bathe in the rivers. Why? What is the mythological,
theological meaning of the rivers? How is the Ganga understood? What is the water quality of the
Ganga, the Yamuna and the sangam of the rivers at Allahabad? How do pilgrims and others understand
the pollution of the "river of heaven?" How does Kumbha planning deal wih the danger of waterborne disease in a crowd of millions? What are we to make of what some call "the mysterious X
factor?"
Diana showed slides to help us understand the tradition of the rivers. Rivers are called “Avatarana” –
sacred rivers that descended from the sky to earth. These rivers of heaven are the focus of the
pilgrimage, as Hindus bring their devotion to mother Ganga. Devotion to heaven is why people come:
to scoop up water as a blessing and offering to the gods and humans. The Ramayana opens with the
story of the “fall” of the Ganga as it came to earth, a fall provoked by a human dilemma caused during
a “horse sacrifice.” Such horse sacrifices are common in Hindu tradition, and include the concept that
wherever the horse roams unimpeded during the ritual, the land becomes the property of the king
who is performing the ritual. In this case a horse disappeared and the king presumed it had been
stolen. After a long search, the missing horse was found tied up in the ashram of the sage Kapile (sp?).
When the king’s soldiers woke him up and accused him of theft, he fixed his eye on them and burned
40,000 descendents of the king to a crisp. The king had one son who remained alive, and this son had a
son, and this grandson of the king does penance to bring the river of heaven to earth in order to bring
the ashes of those who had been destroyed so their proper rituals could be performed. Ganga agreed
to flow provided that the Lord Sriva would catch her flow in his ascetic hair [so the flow would not
destroy the earth]. He agrees; there is some competition between Ganga and the other spouses, but
she flows out of heaven through his locks.
The idea of Ganga’s flow, Diana points out, is really not about a story from the past but about an
ongoing heavenly source. We see the carved image of the river goddess and snake symbol at the
doorway of many temples: ascetic serpentine motif, Gangetic crocodile, Shiva with the Ganga flowing
from his head – all of this the visual vocabulary of North India. Other symbolism in the representation
relates to the four corners of India. A pilgrimage journey to the four is one of the most popular Hindu
pilgrimages. Images of the Ganga high in the Himalayas illustrate the wonderful rock formations and
the strong sense of ascending. Gomukh is one dramatic site 12,000 feet high, the terminus of the
Gangotri Glacier. Here Diana showed slides of sacred water coming out of a cow’s mouth, another
common theme. The homology of cows and water is early and continuing. People bring milk as one of
the offerings they pour into the rivers; some see this as problematic.
Ganga is a female deity associated exclusively with benign goodness (even though the river can be very
rough). Unlike other Hindu goddesses, she is never associated with weapons.
Another form of offering ritual is that of priests who lower flaming oil lamps into the river, bringing
them up often still lit. The slides showed examples from Varanasi. This is a relatively recent ritual,
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involving lighted canopies, synchronized, with the lamp offered not just to the image of the mother
that is the Ganga, but to the water itself. It is designed to be a spectacle. They call it Ganga siva (sp?).
There are many similar rites at other rivers in India.
Haridwar (city) – means “door of Hari.” Here the Ganga enters the plains of India. Conveys an idea of
“God’s gateway.” Maclean speaks of this. Other “doors” include Gangadvara at Bahmajiri near Nasik,
where the river begins to pool at the base of the mountain, with bathing in the pools, a source of the
river Naurma. [not sure I’ve captured ideas accurately here]. For more see eg James Lochtefeld book,
God’s Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place.
Overall, there is a very broad sense of sacred waters. One of the great pilgrimages of India is the
circumnabulation of the Narmada River. People walk the pilgrimage by keeping the river always on
their right. It is a very arduous trip. A major damming project funded by the World Bank has begun to
submerge some of these places along the way. Diana showed a slide of two women walking this path;
“they expect to die along the way.”
The Haridwar Kumbh of 2010 was a sort of “ritual amphitheater”, with bathing places stretched along
the river, and fences so pilgrims would not be swept away (The Ganga flows very swiftly). The Ganga at
Allahabad is not very deep; you can see people wading in the pictures.
One of the myths of the creation of Varanasi says it was formed as an earthly home to Shiva following
pressure on the husband from his parents-in-law, who thought their daughter deserved better than a
tent made of elephant skin! Thus the sense of the river at Varanasi is one of being “never left by
Shiva.” This is where we see the famous images of the long stretch of bathing ghats. Ritual theater here
extends for miles on one side of the river only; the other side is the flood plain.
Vital concept: No culture in the world does with its rivers what India does. Thus in India presumably
rivers should have top priority.
The “Taraka Mantra” is what is whispered at death, the “ferryboat mantra” for the “crossing.” It is
held to be something that will enlighten your mind, part of the concept of the transcendence of death.
At Varanasi the entire river ghats have to be excavated every year as they get covered with silt during
the river’s rising
Student notes: disconnect between focus on life and fact that people come here to die; what is the
relationship? Cremation grounds and laundry are all very much part of the river front. Varanasi now
has an electric crematorium but with frequent power outages etc it often does not work. People prefer
cremation by wood fires. Some say that the laundry use of detergents helps to “purify” the water! The
water contains ashes as well as bodies of those people who are not cremated (sadhus, children).
A sadhu’s renunciation ritual is to lie on his (or her?) own cremation pyre (without the fire).
Some sadhu orders are militant; see eg book by William Pinch (Warrior Ascetics & Indian Empires).
Also old classic book about sadhus; their role at the Kumbh. The sadhus are very closely connected
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with cremation grounds; this is all part of the reason that cremation places are along rivers.
Ganga and contemporary environmental health: observations
A “clean the Ganga” campaign got started around 1998. The current status of the campaign is a little
unclear. The readings and media for this week showed devastating images of filth in the river. People
come to deposit much more than their sins. There is a tradition that rivers also must go to other places
to bathe and become clean, and that the Ganga itself is undergoing purification at the Mela. Diana
showed a curious photo of a boat labeled the “UP Pollution Control Board. Those who push for
cleaning the river do so in a manner that attempts to respect the underlying sense that her essence is
one that is truly clean. For example, many say, do not use the word “pollution” but instead use the
term “dirtiness” because “pollution” suggests a spiritual state of the river itself. A sort of shame
campaign against those who have treated the river disrespectfully by making it putrid, now asked to
make it clean again. David Haberman has said that the Yamana is the most polluted river in India.For
more on this concept of pollution and cleansing of the Ganga, see Diana’s latest book, India: A Sacred
Geography, chapter 4: “The Ganga and the Rivers of India.”
These are, then, some of the key issues we need to hold in mind as we turn our critical gaze to examine
the Kumbh.
Discussion: Rough notes and memorable phrases:
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Dissonance: the resistance of the swamis to pronounce the river impure.
Religious emphasis on maternal degeneracy
Resource management – the saving grace of a river
If you go to the people who have a living relationship with the Ganga and say it’s “dirty,” they
object, so you should say, instead, “Look how people are being disrespectful to our mother!”
Elizabeth notes: It’s interesting to see how people rationalize taking no action. For example, the
passage in the “Rape of Ganga” reading that people recognize the issues but expect it to be the state’s
responsibility.
Diana: yes, what does it take for a people to take responsibility for the environment?
A student notes: Indian homes she visited are generally immaculate. Why then are there such
different standards between public and private space? What is public/civic space? What is not simply
private/public?
Ann Monius notes: Much has been written on the concept of public as a colonialist idea. That is, that
public is a sort of import, a different kind of public being offered. Some researchers are working on
developing the idea of commons.
A student notes: Memorable the image of a woman creating a meticulous column of rice powder in
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front of a door, with the inside of the house clean – but the back of the house filled with trash.
Yes this is ironic as there are probably more environmental NGOs in India than in any other country.
A student notes: Offerings have become plastic, non-degradable, creating tremendous debris. We also
are familiar with limitations on the offering of flowers at the Kumbh.
Diana notes: David Haberman has a new book coming out soon on veneration of trees and trees in
India. This is significant for the Kumbh as there is a tree inside the fortress that is very important in the
veneration that goes on there [remember we saw it last week in the “map” of the gods at the KM]
A student notes: The irony of the river’s cleanness and the fact that it is so full of dirt. The notion that
“No matter what, Ganga is sacred”
Someone notes: Public health issues: can’t be healthy for so many to be bathing and drinking, thinking
they can’t be sick. Is this safe?
Diana asks: Think toward what you want to do with this material. Are there research things we can
investigate?
[Inviting more from science perspectives, Diana adds, “We must have some people here who have a
science background. Me, I’m just a gullible humanist.”]
Helen says: Note the very different attitude to death (e.g. the two pilgrim women who expected to die
along the journey)
Diana: Some of you may want to attend the Radcliffe Institute’s conference on water.
[For more info see http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2012-james-mccarthy-water-lecture:
October 12 – “Cloudy with a chance of solutions: The Future of Water (Conference/symposia; 9 AM)
register by Oct 5
October 22 – “The Epidemiology, Ecology, and Pathobiology of Cholera” (Public lecture, 5 PM)
November 5 – Dan Shrag (Public lecture, 5 PM)
December 3 – “Hormonally Active pollutants” (Public lecture, 5 PM)
See also videos from the April 15, 2011 Conference/Symposium here.]
What about the theories of “Factor X,” some mysterious factor that purportedly keeps the Ganga clean
despite all the pollution?
One student notes: It reminds me of placebo effect. “I don’t believe in Factor X but I believe in people’s
ability to believe in it.”
One student notes from living in rural India: People’s attitudes have important effects. Their attitude
toward garbage and how it is intertwined with the idea of the land. Are we responsible for the divine?
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Diana notes interesting comments about how the state or administrative bodies are preparing to fix
the pollution for the coming Ganga, up to and including chlorination of the water.
A student notes: The need for the forest is singificant, e.g., to prevent soil erosion.
We need more work done on the ideas of the multiple phages, and the very specific viruses.
Diana pushes: what good research projects might we envision for this course? Some ideas:
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Damming: what does it mean? What are the religious implications of damming a river?
Jenny suggests a project that looks at messaging and the environment: how do you come up
with slogans? How do you target literacy? How do levels of messaging work?
Within the traditional perspective, how do these myths of the need of a river to clean itself,
relate to the public debates about public use of the river?
Elizabeth: Would be interesting to look at the relationship between politicians and religious
leaders. To what extent do civic leaders have power to control what is done at the Kumbh?
Perhaps could find out from the district magistrate of the Kumbh; planners actions.
What about Kumbh-sponsored messaging?
Compare Ritual pollution vs. industrial pollution. Where does the conversation begin? flowers?
A bleaker project is industry and sewage: issue of plastic is the tragedy
(Diana notes the google alert that the residents of Allahamabad are now making cloth bags to
keep the presence of plastic to a minimum
Dorothy: mind over matter is remarkable in India. Not necessarily what the water does, but
what the affirmation does.
Medical/cultural attitudes toward cleanliness in India.
Sediments: How have they changed in a century?
What kinds of religious leaders are offering discouraging messages about the issues? Are these
parts of the swami’s messages/
What happens to the disposal of all those used banana leaves that are an Indian substitute for
paper plates?
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