Hindu Tradition (415)

There are many religions around the world, some more similar than others. Each has its own beliefs or versions of those beliefs. Hinduism is a religion I was just assigned to do a project in class about but even before I was assigned it, I found this article about a tradition that takes place every 12 years in Allahabad, India. Where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet along with one other river that is mythical millions and millions of people gather to celebrate Maha Kumbh Mela which translates to Great Pitcher Festival.  The article states, “Officials believe that over the next two months as many as 100 million people will pass through…” That’s a ton of people. This article talks about the things the people gathered there do. Im not even sure if I could repeat it all in my own words because I have no idea what exactly the article is telling the reader what the people are doing.

Something the article describes, im afraid, I would re-phrase wrong so ill copy it into this: “Two dreadlocked men riding horses emerged from thick camp smoke before dawn, followed by a crowd of ash-smeared and naked holy men, or sadhus, one incongruously wearing a suit jacket. At exactly five minutes past six (0035 GMT), they yelled and dashed dancing into the river.” A man is talked about who became a holy man and traveled for decades eating only nuts and fruit. Oh yeah, and he traveled by foot. Another thing the article reads: “At the riverbank, men with dreadlocked beards to their feet vied for media attention with yogis supporting heavy weights with their genitals, while others holding golden umbrellas, flags and swords rubbed sand on their bodies after the dip.” A man named Digambar Navraman Giri was interviewed and mentioned that he had not sat down in a year and slept standing up straight.

I thought that this tradition sounded really interesting. It would take so so much dedication to ones religion to do some of the things they mentioned. Maybe its just a different culture, but im pretty sure I wouldn’t ever smear ash on my body and jump naked into a river with thousands of people. And im pretty sure that most men that live in America or other places with cultures like America, wouldn’t hang weights on their genitals for the public to see even though that’s probably supposed to be impressive. It was really cool learning about the tradition though.