April 6, 2013
Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is the world's largest religious gathering. An estimated 80 million Hindu pilgrims attended this year’s event in Allahabad. (It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayagraj), Nasik and Ujjain. Thus the Kumbh Mela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year.)
When Hinduism Today asked my friend Thomas L. Kelly to photograph the Purna Kumbha Mela this year at Allahabad, he jumped at the offer. It was his forth time covering the Kumbha Mela and each time has proven to be a visual feast, superbly captured by this world-famous photo-journalist. In Thomas’ words, the pilgrims “are here to witness and internalize the holistic spirit of the distinctive event that celebrates the timeless Himalayan tradition and earn spiritual merit by taking holy dips in the holy waters.” It also marks the initiation time for men and women to renounce their old lives and transition into Sadhus and Sadhvis respectively.
Hinduism Today <http://www.hinduismtoday.com/> will be publishing the story in their July issue. But in the meantime, Thomas has generously allowed me to offer my readers a preview of his work.
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For more photographs from Thomas’ trip, with detailed descriptions of each shot, visit his website:
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