Kumbha Mela
2001 Photo Gallery - Page 21 |
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Photos taken January 25 - 27, 2001. There is a lull between Mauni Amavasya on the 24th and the next auspicious bathing day, Basant Panchami,on the 29th of January. |
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When the crowds are away the cars come here to play. Mauni Amasvaya is over and there is a bit of a lull before the next big bathing day on 29th January. Composite photo of the entrance to a pontoon bridge going over the Ganga to the East at 5pm |
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A Painful
Goodbye. In a far quiet corner of Kumbhnagar in sector 8 a woman weeps at
losing her mother who passed away a few hours earlier. It is 5.40pm and
time is running out. The body will be cremated and the remains will merge
with the Ganga by tomorrow. |
In a remote corner, far away from everything - Amma! Mata Amritananandamayi’s small and modest camp. A place only your Heart could find. A day after Mauni Amavasya, all packed up and ready to go. "Hinduism’s greatest ambassador abroad. The Living Embodiment of Love in Action." A short but welcome presence here at the Mela. |
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India lovers Margaret and Rudolph from The Netherlands. They did not want to miss the Kumbh so they left home a few days ago and arrived here yesterday via Varanasi. "The faith that makes this possible is amazing to see and believe. We wanted to experience the biggest festival in the world, and perhaps put something from here into the small annual festival we organize back home." Check it out at www.ruigoord.nl |
The mela grounds are gradually
filling up again with pilgrims who were perhaps too frightened to come
along during the great big rush of Mauni Amavasya where twenty people are
said to have died as a result of either exposure to the cold or crushing
at pontoon crossings. For those who are already here it is cooking time
for dinner. |
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The father of
India’s Environment movement, Sunderlal Bahuguna, sharing a few jokes
about the strange workings of the modern world, while his wife, in true
Gandhian fashion, spins thread from cotton. Today, 26th January,
is India’s Republic Day. We did not realize that the tremor we felt
earlier was the aftershock from the devastating earthquake that hit
Gujarat. |
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| A team of five. Raju (standing second from right) is the man looking after this group. His brother on his left who is holding out his hand from years of habit, is blind. A close relative on his right is also blind and has one arm missing. Ram joined them sometime ago and follows them using his hands, which he protects with rubber sandals. Boy on left is another family member who travels with them as additional support. They are staying here in a temple and are planning to go to another mela in Bihar. "We need some money to travel, Mister!" they say. Sure! Why not? | |
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