By Chiranjib Haldar
When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath shrugged off alarming bacterial contamination claims of the Mahakumbh waters at the confluence, he may have only reiterated a broad statement by the central BJP regime. Adopting a decolonisation agenda in governance, policy and global diplomacy is not enough. It is time to salvage our ancient civilisational ethos and design homespun cultural narratives that articulate India’s contemporary vision. Though a paradigm shift, amalgamating modernity and tradition hides beneath its veneer, the stark reality. The Mahakumbh is no longer about faith, auspicious dates and religion. Going by the spectacle at Prayagraj, it may seem like a communitarian, majoritarian frenzy whipped up to facilitate fast bucks for the organized and unorganised sectors – sundries and services all garnering chunks of the celestial pie on offer. What entered the popular lexicon from a disparaging remark by an iconoclast in the mid-nineteenth century, religion is still the opium of the masses.
Beyond the gruesome stampedes and serpentine queues, miles of human chains awaiting their holy dip, lay an opiate truth. The confluence of water’s divine ability to cleanse the pilgrims’ squalid soul of all putrefaction is what matters. As in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, centuries ago, the cost of redemption is enormous. A tumultuous journey for the commoner proven by the blatant photographs of train compartments bursting at seams, the road to deliverance is not easy. The cost is great and the true devotee must be willing to pay the price as sin does not keep humans from attaining glory. Drone shots of clobbering heads and ghats swaying with dots of various hues, what many of us are seeing on television and reading about is modern India in a microcosm. It is high time not just to rinse our souls but to reclaim a cultural narrative that would repudiate time-worn stereotypes.
It is the tremendous power of belief that, even now, brings millions to Prayagraj. And the contours of this belief, the sangam banks that contain a faith torrent, are shaped by historical forces. Forget the squalor, the rational warning of the Pollution Control Board that the waters are swarming with zillions of bacteria, a dermatological quagmire brushed under the carpet of auspicious lunar phenomena. The sheer pride and vanity of the returning pilgrim to kin, friends, neighbours after having accomplished a stupendous task braving the herculean obstacles, is visible everywhere. Beyond the fusillade of human emotions, reels on social media and braggadocio highlighting the Mahakumbh tales, lay the feeling of satiety. A dip undertaken at the confluence of the three holy rivers is what matters most and will stand the test of time. The entire tussle in rail coaches, strides of pilgrims’ endless miles and the kaleidoscopic unfolding will all fade into oblivion after the last lap.
The ascetics, saints, ash-smeared Naga sadhus, skeleton-donning aghoris and pilgrims in hordes do add up to the zest of planetary alignments. But beyond the oriental mela’s euphoria, lies another truth. The neo-orientalism of the Mahakumbh camouflages the still prevalent caste hierarchy which the electronic and social media blitzkrieg fails to decipher. When political and social luminaries immerse in the sangam, it is only a reassertion of this exotic orientalism. So, Mahakumbh 2025 is not just about scriptural injunctions. It is a fetish for the manifold reincarnations of orientalism. Mark Tully while covering the 1989 congregation for the BBC noted the casteist genealogy. There are the ascetics and the pilgrims called Kalpvasis, the Brahmins or Prayagwals, the Kewat boatmen and the lower caste Khatiks at the end of the social ladder.
There is a mystical halo to the Mahakumbh too. Besides enabling cultural narratives, the confluence of India’s most sacred rivers – the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, the harmonious chants of millions of pilgrims, the resonance of temple bells all override the neo-oriental razzmatazz. Historically Brahmin supremacy, Mughal yogis and British propaganda all have shaped the Kumbh Mela into the world’s greatest religious gathering over three centuries. Historian Kama Maclean in Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad opines ‘The mela was emblematic of a timeless India which thrived under foreign rule. Its role in the imagination of pilgrims and as an information mechanism made it an appealing opportunity for both Nehru and Gandhi…There was some reservation in elite nationalist circles about utilising a Hindu institution to communicate ideas of an inclusive nation.’
As the Mahakumbh wound up, we must remember the mega congregation is not only about saffron leaning celebrities. Socialites, politicians cutting across hues and parties, impresarios, influencers, filmstars are all adding to their glamour quotients, posting their shorts and reels and depicting their bravado with pride. There are two connects at either end of the spectrum. Web-checked in fliers descending at Prayagraj airport, dashing to hotels at exorbitant prices and heading to relatively well-managed ghats under adequate security, getting the publicity optics right and boarding the flight back home after purging their souls. The other motley millions packed like sardines in trains and trucks, disembarking at peripheral stations and outskirts. Walking like disheveled mortals, jostling at bhandaras or makeshift kitchens, shelling out wads of notes to fleecing vendors all for the ultimate soul-wrenching goal. For a Mahakumbh swab in squalid water brimming with microbes at the commoners’ ghats is more sacrosanct than the stain and germ. The purgatory is worth a conquest of the mind, the pious and holy.
(The writer is a commentator on politics and society.)