Allahabad Ardha Kumbh Mela 2019 from Hyderabad

One of the biggest Hindu pilgrimages in India, the Kumbh Mela 2015 is slated to be held in Nashik. The Mela will commence on 14th July, 2015 and will continue for a couple of month, ending on 25th September, 2015. Every 12th year, the Kumbh Mela takes place on a grand scale at each above cities. Nashik is considered as the centre of Kumbh in Maharashtra.

Maha Kumbh Mela, the biggest conglomerate of devout Hindus, is a 1600 year old tradition and was documented by Huan Tsang, the first Chinese traveler to India who visited here in the 7th century A.D. During his visit to India in 1895, Mark Twain, the celebrated American author, said "It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites."

The highlights of the Nashik Kumbh Mela 2015, is the holy bathing ceremony (snan) wherein 14 Akhadas, out of which 11 belongs to the Shaiva sect and 3 to the Vaishnava sect. While the Shaiva Akhadas take a holy dip at Kushavart in Trimbakeshwar, around 30 kilometers away from Nashik, the Vaishnava Akhadas perform rituals at Ramkund in Godavari.

The Kumbh Mela is attended by over 60 million Hindus and attracts media coverage from all over the world. A ritual bath at a predetermined time and place is the major event of the festival.