The religious basis for the Magh Mela is the belief that pilgrimage is a means for
prāyaścitta (atonement, penance) for past mistakes, the effort cleanses them of sins and that bathing in holy rivers at these festivals has a
salvific value, for
moksha – a means to liberation from the cycle of rebirths (
samsara). According to Diane Eck – professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, these festivals are "great cultural fairs" which brings people together, tying them with a shared thread of religious devotion, with an attendant bustle of commerce, trade and secular entertainment. The Magha Mela festival is mentioned in the
Mahabharata and in many major
Puranas. The Magh Mela is a part of the river festivals that follow the transition of Jupiter into various zodiac signs. These river festivals – called
Pushkaram (or Pushkaralu) – rotate over the year to ghats and temples along the major rivers of India, each revered as a sacred river goddess. They include the ritual bathing as well as prayers to ancestors, religious discourses, devotional music and singing, charity, cultural programs and fairs. An annual bathing festival is also mentioned in ancient Tamil anthologies of the
Sangam period. For example, nine of the surviving poems in the
Paripatal collection is dedicated to river goddess Vaikai. These poems mention bathing festivals in the Tamil month of Tai (January/February) after the month of Margazhi, a period which overlaps with the northern month of Magh. These bathing festivals are depicted as spiritually auspicious and occasions for water sports, fairs and community gathering. == In Sikhism ==