Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: the Allahabad (Prayagraj) (Ganges-Yamuna-Sarasvati rivers confluence), Haridwar (Ganges), Nashik (Godavari), and Ujjain (Shipra).The festival is marked by a ritual dip in the waters, but it is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass feedings of monks or the poor, and entertainment spectacle.The seekers believe that bathing in these rivers is a means to prāyaścitta (atonement, penance) for past mistakes,and that it cleanses them of their sins.
Many devout Hindus believe that the Kumbh Mela originated in times immemorial and is attested in the Hindu mythology about Samudra manthan (lit. churning of the ocean) found in the Vedic texts.Scholars, in contrast, question these claims as none of the ancient or medieval era texts that mention the Samudra Manthan legend ever link it to a "mela" or festival. According to Giorgio Bonazzoli – a scholar of Sanskrit Puranas, these are anachronistic explanations, an adaptation of early legends to a later practice by a "small circle of adherents" who have sought roots of a highly popular pilgrimage and festival.
One of the key features of the Kumbh mela has been the camps and processions of the sadhus (monks). By the 18th-century, many of these had organised into one of thirteen akharas (warrior ascetic bands, monastic militia), of which ten were related to Hinduism and three related to Sikhism. Seven have belonged to the Shaivism tradition, three to Vaishnavism, two to Udasis (founded by Guru Nanak's son) and one to Nirmalas. These soldier-monk traditions have been a well-established feature of the Indian society, and they are prominent feature of the Kumbh melas.
The Naga Sadhus are Shaivites (the followers of the Lord Shiva) and they live in the Himalayas. The Kumbh Mela is the only time of the year during which they come down to the plains and it is therefore, an occasion of great significance to them. It is also the only time of the year when one can become a Naga Sadhu.
