AN INDIAN MELA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15504, 10 January 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN INDIAN MELA.

BY ONLOOKER. When- the Indians in South Africa were up in arms a few weeks ago against their employers, one phase of their demonstrations was a combined march on the borders of Natal. The reasons prompting this action may have been diverse, but there can be little doubt that at the back of it lay the Oriental fondness for pilgrimages. India is a great land for pilgrimages; they are, in fact, in the words of a recent census report "the substitutes (to the Hindoo) for most other religious observances, always excepting those connected with the propitiation of. local spirits, whether family or attached to the house or village." Just as in mediaeval England people flocked in their hundreds at a certain period of the year to Canterbury, so, too, the pious Hindoo is wont to gather in his millions at some particularly holy spot,' be it shrine or river, to do penance for his past offences and propitiate the unseen forces of the world. Nor are the occasions few and far between when he can take part in these pilgrimages, for the " tirth" as it is called bulks largely in the Hindoo calendar with countless melas to choose from and nearly all of them dating back to immemorial antiquity.

One of the most famous of these is the " Kumbh Mela," which recurs once in turn in a cycle of 12 years at Allahabad, Ujjain, Hardwar and Nasik. It usually attracts the largest number of devotees. The word "Kumbh" means a pitcher of water and stands for Aquarius, one of the signs of the Zodiac— Kumbh Mela falling at Allahabad when the planet Jupiter enters Aquarius and the sun is in Aries. This phenomenon occurring only once in 12 years the Mela, to which it owes it name, is naturally regarded by the Hindoos as an occasion of peculiar sanctity. Every year there is an ordinary Mela at Allahabad called the Magh Mela, and the Kumbh Mela is simply a glorified edition of .this. Various reasons are assigned by the Hindoos themselves to account for the great celebrity of Allahabad as a place of pious visitation. lb was true that the incarnation Earn Chandra, King of Ajodya, during his 14 years' • search for his wife Sita, came to bathe and perform "puja." Here, too, is the " Sangam," the junction of three rivers—two, the Jumna and the Heaven-descended Ganges, visible to the ordinary being; the third, the Saraswati, seen only by the eyes of the " illuminati/' welling up at this spot after a long course underground from the sands of Sirhind, 400 miles to the north-west. „ The slight eddying of the water marks the meeting of the streams, and the " triple braid" flows on thence as one stream to the Bay of Bengal. Tradition and superstition have thus leagued together to invest the locality with a supernatural and religions atmosphere, which makes it for the simple pilgrim, winding his steps hither, a veritable " Firth Raj." _ Allahabad is, also, one of the three spots in India where the mysterious ceremony of the " Shradd,"' one of the most necessary observances for the Hindoo, can be performed; while the city's ancient name,," Prayag," is evidence that at some remote period it was a place of sacrifice. Perhaps the first glimpse history affords us of this great pilgrim-festival is the visit of the Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang, to Prayag in the, reign of King Harsha in 644 A.D. According to the .explanation given by the King, he had been accustomed for the past 30 years to hold a great quinquennial assembly at. the junction of the rivers, and then to distribute his treasures to the poor and needy. On the occasion when Hiuen Tsang was present the assembly was attended by vassal Kings and a vast concourse of people to the number of half a million, including Brahmans and ascetics of every sect from all parts of India. The "Mela" 'lasted nearly 2£ months, and on the opening day there was a magnificent procession of rajahs with their retinues. Offerings were made to images of Buddha, the Sun and Siva, and the following days witnessed the distribution of a truly loyal largesse, "10,000 Buddhist - priests, Brahmans, heretics (Jairns), and other sects, mendicants and poor, orphaned and destitute persons." Thus the accumulations of five years were exhausted. Except for the horses, elephants, and military accoutrements, which were necessary for maintaining order and protecting the Royal estate, nothing remained. The King at the end was so destitute that he had to beg from his sister "an ordinary second-hand "garment," rejoicing the while that "his treasure had been bestowed in the field of religious merit." There are no longer Kings to lavish gifts, for the Government that has taken their place, is of a more practical mind. Nor are these rajahs to pass by in glittering processions, though occasionally a prince like the Maharajah of Kashmir may descend upon the "Mela" with a small army of followers. The scene on the great days of tße "Mela" is nowadays of a different kind, but for all that not wanting in picturesqueneas. The "fakir" is now the principal actor in the drama; the humble pilgrim the giver, rather than the receiver of alms, content to perform his religious duties in unostentatious style and look on, as an interested spectator, at the wondrous shows unfolded before him on procession days. The "Kumbh" is, in fact, a sort of grand assembly fakirs, who swarm into the " Mela'" in their thousands, not singly but in clans or "akharas." Very jealous of each other's privileges and rights, some of them are ready to create a disturbance on the slightest occasion, and were it not for the great care taken to keep apart the various "akharas" often even the different sections in ' each "akhara"— would infallibly arise. As it is regrettable incidents occur from time to time.

It must not be imagined that it is only the purely Hindoo element that is represented at these fairs. No less than five of these "akharas" are classified as "Sikhs"—the Nirbanis Niranianis, Junas. Nirmaias and Udasis. The Sikhs generally have the leading places. Among these the Niranjanis were founded in the middle of the 16th century, by Handal, the cook of their third " guru" or high priest. Their chief peculiarity is that they reject the ordinary burial customs of the Sikhs and Hindoos, have special marriage rites of their own, and do not reverence the Brahman. The Udasis (Udas— sit separate or apart from) are not as exclusive as their name might suggest, as they are recruited from all castes and will eat food from any Hindoo. They are usually celibates and are sometimes congregated in monasteries. The most important of all non-Sikh " akharas" are the Bairagis. On procession days they generally number over 20,000, and they give a lot of trouble. They are by no means an united family, being split up into several- divisions, and are composed of nondescripts of any religion or cask, even a native Christianbeing eligible for admission to their ranks. The Bairagis are worshippers of Rama and Krishna. They have their religious differences—amongst others what are somewhat quaintly called the "yotog monkey theory' and the "kitten theory." The one party insists on the power of the human will in the work of salvation, and represents the soul as laying hold of God as a young monkey clasps its mother in order to be carried away to a place of safety; the other maintains the utter helplessness of the soul till it is seized and carried off as a kitten is by its mother. Each " akhara" is ruled over by a Mahant— the head priest or we might even, translate it into bishop— is on these occasions the recipient of marked attention from the authorities, everything possible being done to conciliate his friendship and win his influenoe over to the side of order. The Mahant is usually a very important individual apart altogether from his religious position, many of them being very rich men.