According to
Hindu mythology,
Vishnu dropped drops of
amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a
kumbha (pot). These four places, including Prayagraj, are identified as the present-day sites of the Kumbh Mela. The river-side fair at Prayagraj is centuries old, but its association with the
kumbha myth and a 12-year old cycle dates back to the 19th century. The priests of Prayagraj borrowed these concepts from the
Haridwar Kumbh Mela and applied it to their local Magh Mela, an annual celebration. The Magh Mela probably dates back to the early centuries CE, and has been mentioned in several
Puranas.
Early records of the Magh Mela (photo ) contains many inscriptions since the 3rd century BCE. Sometime around 1575 CE,
Birbal of Akbar's era added an inscription that mentions the "Magh mela at Prayag Tirth Raj". The writings of the Chinese traveller
Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) possibly contain a reference to an ancient version of this fair in 644 CE. Xuanzang mentions that Emperor
Shiladitya (identified with
Harsha) distributed his wealth among the public once every five years; his treasury was then replenished by his vassals. He describes such a ritual at a site located at the confluence of two rivers, in the kingdom of Po-lo-ye-kia (identified with Prayaga). He also mentions that many hundreds take a bath at the confluence of two rivers, to wash away their sins. According to some scholars, this is earliest surviving historical account of the Kumbh Mela or its predecessor. However, Australian researcher Kama Maclean notes that the Xuanzang reference is about an event that happened every 5 years (and not 12 years), and might have been a Buddhist celebration (since, according to Xuanzang, Harsha was a Buddhist emperor). A common conception, advocated by the
akharas, is that
Adi Shankara started the Kumbh Mela at Prayag in the 8th century, to facilitate meeting of holy men from different regions. However, academics doubt the authenticity of this claim. There is no record of a Kumbh Mela with a 12-year cycle at Prayag before the 19th century. The
Prayag Mahatmya section of the
Matsya Purana states the exalted holiness of Prayag in the Magha month, but does not mention any "Kumbh Mela".
Bengal's prominent spiritual leader
Chaitanya visited Prayag in 1514, and participated in a bath on the
Makara Sankranti. The
Bengali language source
Chaitanya Charitamrita mentions that he visited a Magh Mela (and not a Kumbh Mela). The 16th century
Ramcharitmanas of
Tulsidas mentions the mela in Allahabad as an annual one, but does not contain any reference to a 12-year cycle.
Tabaqat-i-Akbari (c. 1590s) of
Nizamuddin Ahmad also mentions that the mela as annual. It states that after the
rabi harvest, Hindus came to the Triveni Sangam in such large numbers that the jungles and the plains were not sufficient to hold them.
Ain-i-Akbari, also from the 16th century, mentions that Allahabad is especially holy in the month of
Magha.
Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (c. 1695-1699) uses the term "Kumbh Mela" to describe only the Mela at Haridwar; it only mentions the existence of an annual Mela at Allahabad.
Yadgar-i-Bahaduri (1834 CE) similarly mentions that the mela at Allahabad is held every winter in Magha, when the sun enters the Capricorn.
Company-era Magh Melas Some of the Company-era Magh Melas include:
1790 A letter from
Scindia praises a Muslim named Mir Muhammad Amjad for rendering good service to Hindu pilgrims from the Deccan. Amjad was an officer of Asaf-ud-daula.
Asaf-ud-Daula, the
Nawab of Awadh, greatly reduced the pilgrim tax this year.
1801 The Company outsourced the tax collection at the mela to a native to escape the complexity of the tax system as well as the accusations of profiting from the non-Christian practices.
1833 Bishunath Singh, the prince of
Rewa, refused to pay tax on the grounds that he did not take a bath. However, the local British Collector sent Rewa a tax bill of 5,490 (a hefty amount in those days), on the basis that he had employed Prayagwals, and people in his retinue had their heads tonsured.
1836 The Raja of
Rewa requested the British to grant a tax exemption for his 5000-strong retinue. The British agreed to grant an exemption only for 1000 people. An angry Raja abandoned his trip to Allahabad.
1840 The British abolished the pilgrim taxes as "a measure calculated to augment the popularity of Government... in these disaffected times". A huge number of people attended the Magh Mela that year. A stampede occurred, in which 2 people were killed and another 2 were injured.
Others Like the Haridwar mela, the Prayag mela also had a mercantile component, but on a far smaller scale. European traveller Charles James C. Davidson visited the fair twice, and described it in his book
Diary of Travels and Adventures in Upper India (1843). According to him, the wares put up for sale at the mela were low-value items "usually found in all Indian fairs".
Transformation of the Magh Mela into Kumbh Mela It is difficult to determine the exact year in which the Magh Mela was first celebrated as a Kumbh Mela. The 1870 fair at Allahabad is the earliest fair that is described as a "Kumbh Mela" by contemporary sources. The previous Kumbh Mela would have been scheduled in 1858; but that year, no fair was held in Allahabad because of disturbances resulting from the
1857 uprising. Before that, a Kumbh Mela would have been held in 1846, but there are no records to suggest this. In 1874, G. H. M. Ricketts — the Commissioner of Allahabad — wrote that the fair became more sacred every seventh year, and attracted a larger number of pilgrims and merchants. Beyond this, he wrote, the administration had little knowledge of the factors that resulted in increased or decreased attendance at the fair in a given year. According to Maclean, the missionaries distributed literature – printed in Indian languages – at the large pilgrimage gathering of Hindus at Allahabad. These attacked the Hindu "devotional practices", "Rama and Lachmad [sic]", the idolatry and Hindu rituals. Some of the missionary literature accused the Prayag pilgrimage as "mere superstition" and "not even sanctioned in the higher sacred books of the Hindus". The Prayagwals and other Hindus found this offensive. They argued – "powerfully" states Maclean – that Hindus were not given the freedom under the British government to enter Christian premises, set up camps, preach and distribute their religious material to Christians near their churches or criticise Christianity on Christian festivals. In contrast, the Christian missionaries under the protection of the British government do exactly that to the Hindu community that gathers to celebrate their own festival. This
orientalist discrimination, the newspapers stated was because of "the helplessness of the mild Hindu who identifies his Christian rulers with the Padres and fears to raise his hand against the White Preacher or his black converts." The government ignored these petitions, states Maclean, "perhaps recognizing that once missionaries had been excised from the [Kumbh] mela, government would be next". Despite the aggressive proselytisation methods used by Christian missionaries at the Prayag Kumbh melas, states Maclean, they had little success in converting any Hindus there. However, it did help develop vibrant Hindu-owned printing press operations, in reaction to the Christian missionary tactics, that began publishing and widely distributing pro-Kumbh mela, pro-Hindu and anti-colonial literature.
1857 rebellion The colonial government accused the Prayagwals of contributing to the unrest in Allahabad and in part, for the outbreak of the 1857 uprising at Allahabad. According to the colonial archives, the Praygawal community helped seed and perpetuate the resistance against the Christian missionaries and the 1857 rebellion to the colonial rule. == British Raj ==