Religious Studies and Theology: Kumbh Mela Essay (Article)

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Introduction

The Kumbh Mela emanates from Hindu myth, which is based on the belief that demons and gods wrestled over a pitcher, or Kumbh, which held the immortality drink. Sacred nectar spilled out as the gods rushed to heaven, dropped onto the four locations on the river: Ujjaink, Allahabad, Haridwar and Nashik. Currently, the Kumbh Mela ritual is held after every three years, alternatively among the four cities.

Thesis Statement

This Kumbh Mela practice has been formed on a deception concept and many people without realizing it follow it blindly. The diversity of religion cannot be enhanced in such kind of practices and many incidences that happen negatively is a pointer to this fact.

The British colonial impact left a lasting impact on the religious practices in the India. The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage can be traced to this era of colonialism. The British are responsible for drawing the geographical boundaries that have been important in the location of the pilgrimage sites. The sect system was propagated in this era and is significant in the Hindu religious practices.

This can be concluded so because Hindu religion is credited for having a strong belief in numerous gods. It, therefore, makes it an interesting phenomenon when the Kumbh Mela is mentioned. Such gods include Shiva, Pavarti, Durga, Kali, and Saraswati. Consequently the idea that gods and demons are not very elaborate to a satisfactory level. The particular gods who took part in the struggle should have been mentioned. Moreover there is no clear evidence of when exactly and how this religious practice began. Many ignorant people in their zeal to appear religious were unfortunately caught in the melee. This pilgrimage is said to be held in a variety of locations depending on the Planet Jupiter and the sun (Oxtoby & Segal, 2007).

As it can be remarkably noted that, if the first Kumbh Mela can be traced as far back as 600AD, how was the position of the planet Jupiter ascertained in relation to the position of the sun? Far back then there were no instruments or devices to determine the position of such claims. Even if they were there their accuracy and reliability will be very small. Besides if gods were powerful and exuded such might as anticipated with any god then they would not have struggled with the demons. They would have just scattered the demons in fright and trembling. The demons are not expected to stand the mighty of the gods. Hindus are scattered all over the world and gods for all should be reachable from any location because they should be omnipresent (Fisher & Bailey, 2008).

Fisher & Bailey (2008) note that there existed an absurd case where it is rumored that the holy water only dropped at for location of the river and people have to travel all over the world just to come and plunge themselves in the so-called holy water. This is a deception that holds twisted truths. What would be the result of a struggle between the gods and the demons? It will hardly be holy pitcher that dropped in the water of the river. The tragedies that have characterized this stampede to the Ganges cannot be labeled as holy. At one time when the Juna sect was commencing its procession to the Ganges one of their vehicles hit numerous people in the crowd.

According to Oxtoby & Segal (2007), several people were killed. This should hardly accompany a holy ritual. The procession was stopped and the leader chose to bathe at a different spot of the river. This nullifies the fact that the plunging into the water should be done exactly at a certain spot. A holy religious ritual should not be a cause for controversy but in the case of Kumbh Mela, it has been that a lot of controversies have emerged for example which group should take the holy dip first. This has resulted in infighting and bickering. The leaders of the various sects are unable to come to a clear conclusion of what exactly should be done

Conclusion

It can be aptly concluded that the article ‘Taking the Sacred Plunge: One wave of Humanity at a time’ forms a fascinating fable that leaves a lot to be desired concerning the origin of the sacred ritual. It is also a continuation of the Hindu segregation practices that do not allow people from different castes to interact. Different sects get in at different times.

Works Cited

Fisher P. Mary & Bailey, W. Lee. An Anthology of Living Religions, 2nd. Ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.

Oxtoby G. Willard & Segal F. Alan. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2007.

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