Debunking ‘Kumbh Mela’ From A Sociological Perspective

Kumbh Mela which means the “festival of the Sacred Pitcher” is an important Hindu pilgrimage in India, that is celebrated approximately every 6,12 and 144 years, correlated with the partial or full revolution of Jupiter and representing the largest human gathering in the world. Kumbh Mela has changed over time from a primary religious gathering to a socio-cultural and even a tourist event. Since its inception early in the first millennium CE, the Kumbh Mela has become the largest public gathering in the world; today it draws tens of millions of pilgrims over the course of a few weeks to bathe in the auspicious rivers. Thus today the picture of Kumbh Mela has taken a sharp change highlighting political interventions and has a more economic outcome. This research focuses on two objectives: • To analyze whether Kumbh Mela serves actually as a ‘melting pot’. • To understand the process of how Kumbh Mela has become politicized and commercialized over time. The researcher tries to find out more about the Kumbh Mela from a sociological perspective. The researcher has done a desk research based on secondary sources of data which include books, journals, articles of newspapers, video clippings and gazetteers. The social significance of this research is to understand whether the Kumbh Mela acts as a melting pot of cultures and a powerful symbol of unity in diversity or not. The Kumbh Mela has various positive and negative consequences in the recent year. The role of the state, its politics, and commercialization has been studied to understand Kumbh mela from a sociological perspective subsiding the religious aspect.