Millions brave the chill to take the Holy Dip

It’s said in Hindu mythology that the gods bathed here at some point, and akharas have traditionally bickered to bathe first. At the last Kumbh Mela in Hardwar, two orders of Naga sadhus had fought among themselves over this issue. But the mela administration and police had moved swiftly to iron out the creases: as was decided a couple of days ago, the Mahanirvani Akhara marched in first, followed by the Niranjani and the Juna Akharas.

But there was some waiting to be done. After days of near-zero visibility in the early mornings, the fog lifted today. Policemen had been stationed at the Sangam the night before, and they watched nervously as the minutes crawled by.

Horses bearing mounted police stamped around, and volunteers of the Bharat Seva Sangh started cordoning off pilgrims. Pilgrims hurriedly dipped in and out of the waters, releasing lit lamps into the waters. P.C. Goswami, a bank employee in Assam, had bathed at 3.30 a.m. itself. “What do I say, yeh to dil ke baat hai,” he exulted as he waited for the procession to arrive.

The Mahanirvani Akhara rolled in first led by Naga sadhus, clad in ash and marigold garlands. Hooting bugles, their mahamandaleshwars perched atopsilver-coloured thrones mounted on tractors and jeeps, the akhara’s sadhus waited oh-so-briefly atop the slope below which lies the Sangam. Then, the Naga sadhus scampered down the slope like children, chucking garlands to the cordoned crowds and rushing into the waters. `Har Har Mahadev’ echoedaround the bathing area. The rest of the akhara followed suit. The ritual bathing of the sadhus had begun.

One akhara left the ground as swiftly as it had come in, making way for the other. The Niranjani Akhara was next, and the celebrations were getting louder, the crowds of barricaded pilgrims jostling for a peek gently swelling. And by now, the Naga sadhus who lead the akharas in the bathing were catching on big time. They played around in the river, scooping water on the cameras of photographers who had ventured in as well.

And what a game it was: photographers and sadhus playing a cat and mouse in the waters and out of it as pilgrims watched from from behind the safety of wooden fences. The Nagas played to the gallery, posing with their swords. “Eh, ek chillum de,” yelled several of them as they stood dripping in the cold. By the time the Juna Akhara, the last of the three main Shaivite Akharas and the oldest and biggest came on, the bath was one big photo-op.

The Nagas of the Juna Akhara far outnumbered the rest, and they were byfar the favourites. Whimsical as ever, they were teasing the shutterbugs one minute, even bumming cigarettes off them, and then shoving them around thenext.

As the Juna Akhara’s Nagas left, they swelled up a whole pontoon bridge. “God, this is amazing, I have never seen anything like this before,” said an awestruck foreign photographer. The mahamandaleshwars watched on from their thrones. In fact, Swami Avdeshanandji Acharya Mahamandaleshwar, of the Juna Akhara, even received a call on his sleek cellhone as he waited to be taken to the bathing area. “Is it a call from God? Just in time,” said a bemused tourist.

The Akharas kept rolling in as the sun climbed into th sky. TiIl then, the organisation has been as clockwork as an event of this nature could be, but an hour’s lag between the departure of the Shaivite akharas and the entry of the Vaishnavite Bairag Akharas put paid to all that.

By around 11 a.m. the bathing area was swamped by impatient pilgrims. The police should have seen it coming but didn’t: as the sounds of the BairagiAkharas neared, indignant pilgrims were being chucked out of the water like rag dolls.

“Move your things, get out of here,” yelled policemen as the first of the bright yellow and saffron flags emerged on the slopetop. “Why should I, you move my things for me,” yelled back a purple-veined man in his underwear. At any rate, the lines between the holy and the ordinary had blurred by then, and sadhus and pilgrims were running shoulders in the Ganga.

The akharas’ processions went on till around late afternoon.

Officially, the mela administration put the numbers who bathed today at 50-60 lakh. They also had a word or two to say about the courting of the Naga sadhus by photographers, and “restrictions” on the foreign media are a possibility. But the next big bathing day is a long way off, on January 24. And it promises to be bigger and better than today.