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Places
The Inimitable
Allahabad
by
Mukesh Williams
Visiting Allahabad a century ago, the American humorist Mark Twain
experienced the unique singularity of the India tradition and its utter
incomprehensibility. India has always fascinated both Indians and
foreigners alike by its immutable religiosity and strange mysticism. It
creates an aura of inaccessible mystery that is hard for any westerner
to shake off. Many British writers from Rudyard Kipling to E.M. Forster
had much to say about the discomfort and surprise India gave them, but
yet the country captivated them. Kipling for instance hated Allahabad
but was fascinated by Professor Alec Hill’s house, called Belvedere,
where he lived. Later he chose the bucolic surrounding of the house as
the locale for his famous Rikki-Tikki Tavi tale, the story of a brave
and loyal mongoose who cunningly devised strategies to kill all the
poisonous snakes in the garden and save its inhabitants from harm.
Though Allahabad has a hoary past it rarely figures on the itinerary of
an ardent traveler. It does not compete with touristy places like Goa or
Pondicherry, nor does it offer the hustle and bustle of Delhi or Bombay.
Allahabad has an old-fashioned, primordial charm of its own. It is for
people who are fired by a fervent wish to find the quintessential or
quaint India. It is for those who are not worried about the
inconveniences of traveling or living in new and often inhospitable
places.
Once the capital of United Provinces, and later the center of political
revolt against the British Empire, Allahabad embodies a long religious
and intellectual tradition. In the recent past the city has attracted
great revolutionaries, storytellers, poets and Bollywood stars such as
Jawaharlal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh,
Kipling, Amitabh Bacchan and others. Many old timers feel that Allahabad
is losing both its Mughal and British charm, but its primeval lure as a
center of pilgrimage continues to survive.
There is an abiding quality even in its history. The ancient name of
Allahabad was Prayag Raj or the place of great sacrifice. It is said
that Brahma himself offered his first sacrifice at Prayag after creating
the world. In 1583, the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Akbar gave Prayag Raj
the name of Allahabad or the City of God. It is undoubtedly a city of
god where all major religions of the world can be found. It is possible
to see an ancient temple, a stucco-white mosque, a stone cathedral
bustling with life.
Prayag Raj lies some six hundred kilometers southeast of Delhi at the
confluence of three great rivers of north India—Ganga, Yamuna and
Saraswati. The confluence makes it an important pilgrimage center,
giving rise to many religious festivals such as the Magh mela and the
Kumbh mela. Since the festival takes place in the month of Magh, that is
January-February, it is called Magh mela. The Makar Sankranti or Divine
Good marks the beginning of the Magh mela and Puranmasi or the full moon
its end. This festival brings millions of people from all over India to
Prayag and forces the Allahabad Municipal Corporation to create an
entire new city for two months on the banks of these rivers.
Allahabad stands in the middle of the Doab region where hundreds of
agricultural communities rely on rain or river water for irrigating
crops. Water, therefore, becomes the most important aspect of life. It
acquires the force of a central symbol that purifies, heals and removes
the darkness from the spirit. The image of the water is further woven
into the notion of a huge confluence. At Allahabad the reality of the
confluence is profound. It turns the water into a vast sea that
sometimes takes nearly half an hour to cross. Though overloaded boats
overturn and some of its banks are infested with crocodiles, there
hazards do not deter the pious. They come here regularly to bathe in its
divine waters seeking benefits or moksha, carrying a faith without fear.
The ancient Sanskrit literature of India has always attached great
significance to rivers and created a whole body of religious myth around
it. The places where rivers meet have obvious divine connotations. The
Rigveda, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata give a special place to Prayag
as the center for saints and sages. The Puranas speak of the merits
gathered by any man who makes a pilgrimage to Tirtharaj Prayag. The
Matsya Purana clearly lays down different methods of worship, religious
observance and spiritual preparedness for the dutiful. Kalidasa in The
Raghuvamsa, Canto XIII, poignantly captures the kinetic energy of the
confluence. The Rigveda too speaks of the magic of River Ganga. One
verse from The Prayag Mahatamya, extols the virtues of the confluence in
the following manner:
Shines in its glory the king of shrines,
Two noble-born maidens Ganga and Yamuna,
Daughters of ascetic Bhanu and the sun
Wave their soft white and blue Yak tails
The imperishable holy Banyan tree becomes
The azure colored royal canopy over the head of Prayag.
True to the distinctive woolly white of the Ganga and the placid blue of
the Yamuna the ancient Puranic bard builds the conceit of commingling of
the two rivers that are represented as two beautiful maidens. The
iconography of the rivers carries the beauty and elegance of the
feminine form that helps us to understand some aspects of Indian
aesthetics.
Triveni, as the confluence is aptly called, brings forth the image of a
third river, the mythical Saraswati, emerging from below the earth,
meeting the braided Ganga and Yamuna, knitting them further with its own
braid. It is impossible to guess when Saraswati last flowed and when it
disappeared, or if it still flows. It is a Rigvedic river that
supposedly dried up in the desert centuries ago, but even today its
symbolic significance is no less. It is the ambitame naditame devitame
sarasvati (or the best mother, best river, best goddess) and it is
possible to find all the life spans or ayus along its banks. Ancient
Indian texts help to conjure up the image of Saraswati and keep alive
the witchery of a mystical tripartite dialogue of an eternal cosmic
flow.
The devout believe that it is possible to hear the mystic sound Om if
one were to stand quietly at Triveni Sangam. Even a day is enough to
bring lasting benefits, but if one were to stay for a month on its banks
it would bring merits that may last for many lifetimes. Some are
convinced that if they were to bathe in its pure water, abstain from
eating cereals and recite religious shlokas they could earn the title of
Kalpbasis or those who have resolved to abide by the sacred Hindu
principles.
A visit to Allahabad has never been considered an ordinary visit.
Celestial beings and great minds saw it as a pilgrimage. Lord Brahma
chose Prayag to perform the Ashwamedha Yajna or the horse sacrifice.
Lord Buddha is said to have stayed for three days here to preach his
enlightened ideas. Priyadarshin Ashoka preached his philosophy of
compassion at Prayag that later spread throughout his empire from
Kalinga to Kabul. Harshavardhana visited the city every six years to
participate in its religious celebrations. The famous Chinese chronicler
Huien Tsang wrote that he stayed in King Harshavardhana’s camp for forty
days and witnessed the spending of all the state savings on Bhikkus,
monks and sadhus. Huien Tsang stated that the King felt pride and
satisfaction upon emptying his treasury at Prayag.
Apart from Huien Tsang other international travelers such as
Megasthenes, Pliny and Al Beruni also visited Prayag and witnessed the
spiritual concord of the Magh mela. Kabir and Tulsidas definitely stayed
near the holy confluence and preached to the devotees. Guru Nanak and
Guru Govind Singh were the first and the last of the Sikh gurus who came
here underscoring its importance. Emperor Aurangzeb held a special
durbar at the Allahabad fort and witnessed the celebrations at Sangam.
It is believed that on that occasion the Emperor issued a farman or
royal decree through which he conferred a jagir of three villages on the
pujari of Someshwar Nath Mahadeo temple and gave away one thousand gold
mohurs and ten tolas of gold to him.
The festival of Magh mela is rooted in history and the changing rhythms
of the seasons. After Makar Sankranti comes Amawasya or the new moon of
Magh. This is followed by Basant Panchami or first day of the spring
season which in turn ushers in the Achala Saptmi, Ekadashi and finally
Puranmasi or the full moon when the religious assembly breaks up to meet
again next year. Once in twelve years the Magh mela swells into gigantic
proportions and is referred to as the Kumbh mela or the Great Pitcher
Festival.
The kumbh is considered the biggest religious gathering in the world.
Demographers have recorded that three million devotees bathed on
Amavasya day at Allahabad in 1906, while seventy million entered its
waters in 2001. The Ardh Kumbh or Half Pitcher Festival comes midway
between the two kumbhs and it is an equally huge festival. Since it is
impossible for all the sadhus to attend the Magh mela, representatives
of each order establish their camps with their flags flying atop their
tents. These camps are called akharas. The akharas are established
according to religious hierarchy.
The Naga Goshains, the original followers of Lord Shiva, take precedence
over all others. Both the Nagas and the Junas or Niranjanis go naked,
smearing their bodies with ash, but coming from affluent communities
they do not beg for a living. Their matted hair and religious deportment
give the mela its special charm. These two communities are followed by
the Bairagis or the wandering sadhus. They are the nomadic minstrels
singing devotional songs and sermonizing on issues of common concern
such as marriage, childbirth, family and community. If you were to visit
Mutthiganj, Kydganj or Daragunj in Allahabad you would see some exotic
akharas of various sects such as Digambaris, Udasis, Chotta Panchayatis,
Bara Panchayatis, Sanyasis and Ramanujis and observe their striking life
styles.
During important festivals colorful processions on foot and on elephants
meander towards the ghats. There is a healthy competition between
different akharas or monastic orders, each claiming to carry the
authentic spirit of the festival. At times a stand off between different
akharas may result in a stampede, but it is often settled amicably. In
1906, for example, the English cavalry was called to resolve the quarrel
between the Nirbani and Nirmoni Digambari over the question of
precedence in the procession.
The yearning for self-purification draws the devout to Allahabad. Along
its banks this religious yearning takes on a business-like urgency. Most
Hindus believe that shaving the head is the first act of purification.
Those who shave their heads on the banks of the Ganga will enjoy
heavenly bliss for those many years as the number of hair on their head.
Men and women, therefore, bathe in the river and then come out making a
sankalp or a determination. They repeat their determination, pour milk
and throw flowers in the river. Sometimes a priest helps with a nominal
fee. A rich devotee may offer a cow, horse or an elephant to the priest
while a poor disciple may give a few rupees. Some also conduct a pinda
dan, or ritual for the peace of ancestors where they offer rice cakes
and fresh flowers to the river and then feed the Brahmins.
Most modern tourists like Twain or Kipling are overawed by the religious
impulse that propels multitudes upon multitudes of people to undertake
the incredible journey to the Kumbh festival in Allahabad. They, like
Mark Twain, wonder whether the religious impulse is born out of love or
fear and finding no answer become more intrigued by its religiosity.
Whatever discomforts await you in the raw and dusty city of Allahabad a
short visit during kumbh mela will not only surprise you but help you
understand the inimitable India.
August 25,
2007
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