INDIA: Indian seers at holy bathing festival resort to bizarre antics to grab attention

Record ID: 1371980

  • Title: INDIA: Indian seers at holy bathing festival resort to bizarre antics to grab attention
  • Date: 5th January 2007
  • Summary: OLD WOMEN READING THE BOOK VARIOUS OF NAGA SADHUS SITTING AROUND THE FIRE VARIOUS OF NAGA SADHUS STANDING VARIOUS OF HOLYMEN HANGING UPSIDE DOWN FROM THE TREE MORE OF HOLYMEN PERFORMING YOGA
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2007 14:22
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA3NF58I3VU9YWROVWPQP2LRZIQ
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: As tens of thousands of Hindus thronged for a holy bathing festival, several holy men resorted to antics to grab the attention of visitors and pilgrims.
    The event, in the holy city of Allahabad called the "Ardh Kumbh Mela" or the Half-Pitcher Festival attracts millions of seers, pilgrims and visitors from across the world.
    The bathing festival falls midway between the "Maha Kumbh Mela" or the Great Pitcher Festival, celebrated once every 12 years.
    Hindus believe bathing in the Ganges during the festivals cleanses them of sin, speeding the way to the end of reincarnation in this world and the attainment of nirvana, or the afterlife.
    Variously dressed Hindu saints at the festival resorted to antics or acrobatics to pull the crowd, like Baba Toofangiri, who can make people owe by performing various yogic exercises riding on his horse.
    "We came to pray Mother Ganga and I have brought him (along with me. The only difference between him (the horse) and me is that I can talk and he cannot talk. He also came here to perform Sashtang Dandthvad (a form of Yogic Asana in which the entire body prostrates) in Allahabad on the occasion of Ardh Kumbh," said Baba Toofangiri.
    If it was yogic acrobatics by Toofangiri on horse-back, another seer wearing 11,000 Rudraksha beads marvels anyone.
    Baba Viswanathgiri claims, he came down from Himalayas, where he survives on herbs.
    "I am wearing 11,000 Rudrakshas (beads of a particular plant) and I also have Gangaji (River Ganga), Naag (the serpent king), Tripun (trident) and Chandra (the moon). A person who wears 11,000 Rudrakshas is believed to attain Lord Shankara's form," claimed Baba Vishwanathgiri.
    A group of holymen, who is the centre of curiosity and attraction are "Naga Babas" or "Naked saints", who parade stark naked with their unkempt knotty long hair, smear their bodies with Vibhuti (ash).
    These holy men are known for their unworldly ways like moving around unclad with weird long knotty hair and practising rituals in the most unconventional manner.
    A few lucky ones can also find some Sadhus performing yogic exercises hanging from the branch of a tree.
    About 70 million Hindus are expected to converge in Allahabad over the next six weeks for a dip in the holy Ganges River to wash away their sins in what may be one of the largest gatherings of people on earth.
    Allahabad in the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh is one of four spots where Garuda, the winged steed of Hindu god Vishnu, is said to have rested during a titanic battle with demons over a pitcher of divine nectar of immortality.
    Allahabad is also the site of the holy "sangam" or confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and a third, underground mythical river called the Saraswati, named after the Hindu goddess of learning.
    The "Maha Kumbh Mela" in 1989 attracted 15 million pilgrims and the Guinness Book of Records dubbed it the largest gathering of human beings for a single purpose. It was only bettered by the festival in 2001 which drew between 50 and 70 million.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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