Sacred baths and baba licenses

Well, it turns out that our visit to India overlapped with one of the world's largest religious pilgrimages, so we figured we ought to check it out.

Occuring once every four years, Kumbh Mela is a massive convergence of millions of Hindus from all walks of life: sadhus (devout Hindu holy men who have renounced their material possessions), babas (gurus), phoney babas, and everyday Indian religious tourists. They come to bathe in the sacred Ganges river at this most auspicious of locations.

The experience was unreal. We emerged off of our overnight train and were plunged into the chaotic streets of Haridwar amidst thousands of Hindu holy men.




Bathers at the Ganges.



Bathers drying at a calm spot along the river.


Along with the other visitors to Kumbh Mela, we took a purifying bath in the Ganges.



As you might expect, I learned some lessons about spirituality that day. Circa mid-afternoon, Anna and I were walking along the riverside when we spotted a group of Hindu musicians and sadhus under a tree. We stood watching from behind a small crowd until we were noticed and ushered to sit at the feet of the holiest baba. Resplendent in a WWII era helmet decorated with nut shells and a rhinestone hair barrette, the baba gave us a casual glance. It was right about the time when he took a giant drag from a pipe that we noticed he was fully nude. The baba then picked up a one foot segment of bamboo and started to stand. He proceeded to roll his flaccid penis around the bamboo stick, completing several rotations before coming to a resting position, squatting with the bamboo stick behind his knees. He meditated there for a solid five minutes before releasing his member and returning to lotus position. As we sat, stunned and speechless, he gave us a short lecture. He warned us to always ask for a baba's government issued papers, proudly displaying his own. It wasn't until a group of wandering babas approached and delivered a ten minute oration in Hindi that we finally snuck off.

Some sadhus on horseback.



It was quite a day. We made it out of town on an night train to Amritsar. We shared our car with approximately a million other pilgrims (small exaggeration). It smelled great.

The New York Times recently ran this article on Kumbh Mela. Supposedly 10 million people bathed on the final day (not an exaggeration). Next Kumbh is in 2014, if you're interested in going.

More post-facto updates from India soon.

Yours,
Rebecca