Allahabad--Sacred Places--Kumbh Mela--Pilgrimages--Bathing in the
Ganges--Fakirs and Penitents--Sacred Rites--Superstitions.
Allahabad means the dwelling of God, and the Hindoos regard it as one of
the most sacred places of India. It is a city of one hundred and fifty
thousand inhabitants, and has a strong fortress with an English
garrison. It is the seat of the government of the north-western
provinces, and is situated on a point of land between the rivers Ganges
and Jumna, on the great Indian railroad, about five hundred and
sixty-five miles from Calcutta, and about the same distance from the Bay
of Persia.
In a tropical climate where rain seldom falls during nine months of the
year, it is quite natural that the people regard streams and rivers as
their greatest benefactors, and by means of the vivid imagination of the
South this sentiment has occasionally been developed into religious
worship and idolatry. In this manner the great Ganges, which flows
nearly through the entire length of India, has, since time immemorial,
been regarded as sacred, as have also all places where three rivers
meet. At Allahabad the Jumna meets the sacred Ganges, thus affording two
of the necessary conditions to make the place sacred, and it was easy
for the fertile imagination of the Brahmins to create the third, which
is said to consist in a spiritual current from above, pouring down
continually at the point where the Jumna and the Ganges meet and
mingle. It is claimed that this invisible river is very abundant,
especially in the month of Magh, from the middle of January to the
middle of February, but the most favorable period in this respect is
under the astronomical cycle Yuga, which occurs every twelfth year in
the month of Magh, and is called "Kumbh." This occurred in 1882, which
was therefore a very important year for the Hindoos.
To bathe in the Ganges always means a spiritual purification, and to
bathe there where the three rivers meet at Allahabad in the month of
Magh is a very sacred rite. Every good Hindoo endeavors, if possible, to
bathe at this place at least once during his lifetime; but to bathe
there during the Kumbh Mela, or the twelfth year's cycle, is the most
sacred act a Hindoo can perform, and such a bath is said to atone for
the greatest sins both of the bather and his nearest relatives, be they
living or dead. Out of the immense population of India, one hundred and
ninety millions profess the above faith. Being a very religious people
in their way, and testifying to their faith by their works, it is no
great wonder that Allahabad in the course of four weeks was visited by
nearly two million pilgrims, who came there only for the purpose of
bathing in the sacred river. Partly from curiosity and partly in order
to obtain reliable information, I also made a short pilgrimage to this
place.
[Illustration: INDIAN CART.]
I said that nearly two million people visited Allahabad during the Kumbh
Mela, which I attended. They came from all parts of India, men and
women, young and old, but especially the old, of all classes from the
beggar to the prince, of all castes from the despised coolie to the
haughty Brahmin. They came on crowded railroad trains, or on elephants,
camels, horses, asses, in ox-carts and in boats on the rivers, but most
of them on foot along roads and pathways, across fields and meadows, the
living ones carrying the ashes of the cremated bodies of their dead
relatives to throw them in the holy river. Many of them had traveled
great distances and been on the journey for months. Old men who did not
expect to return to their homes, but were in hopes of finding a grave in
the sacred waters, and had said good-bye to everything which bound them
to life; cripples and invalids expecting to be cured on the banks of the
Ganges, congregated in large numbers at this sacred place. Fanatical
penitents came crawling on hands and feet; holy Fakirs had measured the
way by the length of their own bodies for scores of miles. The penitent
Fakir who travels in this manner lies down on the ground with his head
toward the place of destination, makes a mark in the ground in front of
his head, and crawls forward the length of his body and lies down again
with the feet where he had his head before; a new mark, another movement
ahead, etc., and so he keeps on, one length of his body at a time, until
he reaches the holy river. During this journey the Fakir is surrounded
and followed by a large concourse of people who furnish him with food
and drink, and regard him as a saint. There are instances of men having
traveled over five hundred miles in this manner. Every day and hour the
crowd was increased by new arrivals, until the river banks, the fields
and roads swarmed with countless masses,--a most wonderful gathering.
Thousands of Brahmins offered their services to guide and bless the
pilgrims, most always for a valuable consideration; thousands of
peddlers sold small idols, flower wreaths, rosaries, and other sacred
objects at high prices; others peddled rice, fruit, thin bread and other
provisions, and thousands of barbers cut the hair and shaved the temples
of the pilgrims. There, in the shade of some mango trees a Hindoo prince
had gone into camp with his elephants, horses, soldiers and servants,
the retinue consisting of about two hundred people; and yonder in the
shadeless valley is a camp of a thousand or more Fakirs huddled
together. Many are entirely naked, others are protected by a few yards
of dirty cotton cloth, most of them sprinkled with ashes or dry clay,
their faces streaked in gray, red or yellow colors, and the hair done up
in the shape of a chignon and held together with wet clay; but although
presenting a picture of dire want in their persons they have in the camp
a large herd of costly elephants richly adorned with covers of satin and
velvet embroidered in gold, silver, precious stones and gems, proving
that their begging has not been in vain.
[Illustration: FAKIRS.]
On the river bank is the headquarters of the pilgrims from one of the
Southern provinces, and over yonder that of those from the North or
East. Everywhere is heard the noise of trading and bargaining, of
greeting and ecstacy, of laughter and astonishment, and of the moaning
and cries of the sick and suffering--indeed a regular pandemonium.
The February sun already shone scorchingly hot upon the low, shadeless
valley, the thermometer rising to 90 deg.. In the night, however, it was
unusually cold for that country, and most of the pilgrims being poor and
their clothing and food wretched, dangerous diseases began to break out
among the weak and exhausted. The terrible cholera claimed numerous
victims every day, many died from weakness and negligence, others again
perished through accidents on land and water, for nobody seemed to be
very particular about human life, since death just there was considered
so very desirable. Along the shores of the river flickered hundreds of
fires, at which the remains of the dead are burned to ashes and
scattered into the river by the officiating Brahmins, to the infinite
edification of the relatives of the dead.
The Hindoos are a very peaceful and loyal people, and willingly submit
to order and discipline. Thus designated groups were conducted to the
water at certain times and places, which was highly necessary, as
otherwise the strong would have trampled down and crushed the weak.
The first ceremony consists in shaving the head, or at least the front
part of it; the hair which is cut off ought to be offered to the Ganges,
but the barber smuggles most of it out of the way, to be sold in more
civilized countries. From the barber the pilgrim is turned over to the
care of the Brahmin, who leads him down into the river, under the
following ceremonies: The Brahmin repeats a Sanscrit formula which is
called "Sankalpa," and which states that "the pilgrim N. N. on the day
X. of the month Y., and in the year Z., takes his bath in the sacred
water for the purpose and intention of cleansing himself from all sins
and frailties," after which the pilgrim immerses himself several times
under the water and rinses his mouth with a handful of it, after a few
minutes returning to the shore where he is at once surrounded by
peddlers who offer him flowers, milk and lean cows or goats for sale at
an exorbitant price. He always buys the flowers and the milk and offers
them to the river, and, if he has sufficient money, he buys a cow or a
goat and offers it to the Brahmin; but if his means are too limited the
latter must be content with the few coins the pilgrim can spare. Most of
them, however, have brought a handsome offering to the Brahmin, because
they regard the duty toward him just as important as the duty toward the
river god.
Then follows the "Shiadda" ceremony, consisting of an offering of cake,
sugar, plums and dainties to the ghosts of their deceased relatives;
next a banquet is spread before the Brahmins, the sacred places of the
vicinity are visited, offerings are made at most of these, and a present
called "vidagi" is made to the Brahmin who has attended to the spiritual
wants of the giver.
And now the object of the long and arduous journey is accomplished, the
pilgrimage, "tisthayatra," is successfully performed, and the cleansed
sinner stands ready to begin a new record of sin. He has been plundered
of his last penny, and, if he succeeds in reaching his distant home,
his neighbors and friends will look up to him as an exceptionally happy
being, and his own soul is filled with the hope of temporal and eternal
bliss.
Those who have reaped the pecuniary benefits of the pilgrimage are the
Brahmins and Fakirs, the former through offerings and the latter through
begging. They have filled their coffers and collected large herds of
cattle, and now they can lead a gay and happy life until the next Mela,
when they will again try to fan the dying embers of enthusiasm into a
flame by sending emissaries all over India for the purpose of convincing
the credulous populace that it is greatly to be feared that the Ganges
will soon lose its power of salvation, and that therefore as many as
possible ought to come next time, which may be the last chance.