Kumbh mela, an event that Hindus look forward to each year, and every 12 years, is one that is observed and celebrated with great pomp and show. It is a fair of spirituality, purification, and new beginnings for many.The term ‘Kumbh’ translates to pot, and ‘Mela’ simply means fair. It is said that after the Samudra manthan, when Lord Vishnu was carrying away the pot of Amrit from the asuras, a few drops, 4 to be exact, fell on the ground in 4 different locations. And these locations then became the spots in which Kumbh takes place.

The Kumbh Mela is held at four locations in India, and each one of them has a sacred river in it. There is the Kumbh Mela of Prayagraj, where Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers come together, and this becomes the Triveni Sangam. The next location is Haridwar, the land where Ganga flows, and fills the city with divine energies. Kumbh mela also takes place in Nashik, Maharashtra, and the sacred river in the region is Godavari River. The fourth location of Kumbh mela is Ujjain, the city on the banks of Shipra river.

While the one the world will experience in 2025 is the Maha Kumbh mela, there are 3 more types of Kumbh melas.The most recurrent Kumbh, one that is celebrated every year is the Magh mela. Magh mela is organised in Prayagraj during the month of Magh, January or February according to the Hindu Gregorian calendar, and this gathering is lesser and more frequent. The next is Ardh Kumbh mela, which is held once every six years at Haridwar and Prayagraj. Then comes the Purna Kumbh mela, a rare fair that only comes once in 12 years. And at last is the Maha Kumbh, an extremely rare Kumbh mela that most people aren’t able to experience even once in life as it is celebrated once in every 144 years.

The timing, year, and dates of the Purna Kumbh and Maha Kumbh aren’t decided on whims and fancies. They are determined by the positions of celestial bodies, especially the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter. It is said that it takes about 12 years for Brihaspati to go around the sun, and thus the Purna Kumbh Mela occurs when Jupiter completes the orbit. As Jupiter moves through different zodiac signs, its position relative to the Sun and Moon determines the specific location and timing of the Kumbh Mela.

The Maha Kumbh is one of the most rare occurrences in the Universe, and is only held at Prayagraj. It comes forth once every 144 years, and this timeline is determined by rare celestial alignments. It is said that once 12 Purna Kumbh have been completed, the Maha Kumbh alignments come forward, and thus people, sages, saints, and great souls come together to dip in the Triveni Sangam.

For Indians, especially Hindus, all over the world, the Kumbh Mela is not just any fair and festival that they pass on. It is a celebration of spirituality, of liberation, of divine energies, and of faith. People come together from all walks of life, far away regions, and also from different faiths to dip just once on the dates of Shahi snan, and liberate and free their soul from the cycle of birth and death.