Summary:
As a historic first, the members of the Kinnar Akhara led by their Mahant also took part in the Shahi Snan on Tuesday. They were then given another one hour’s time to return to their temporary ashrams across the Ganga. He has got us here and we will be forever grateful for this opportunity, to be able to witness this sea of devotion and be one with the Sangam.”Sadhus on chariots, on foot and even those on horseback, fired with divine energy, ran in synchronised motion towards the Sangam, took the holy dip, offered their prayers to the sun God and on having returned, smeared ash on themselves again, all this while drowning in religious ecstasy. Swaying to drum beats and hymns in the air, Sulekha Bajpai from Delhi, who was part of a bigger group of pilgrimtourists from the national capital said, “Until now, I had heard of Kumbh and seen photographs, but being here has been a divine personal experience for me ever since I connected with my Guruji at the Niranjani Akhara. ALLAHABAD: It was still pitch dark, with biting cold wind flowing from the Ganga to the shore, when sadhus at the 13 prominent Akharas—stationed under temporary tents at the Kumbh Mela ground here—had started smearing ash on their bare bodies, shutting down their body pores from any external interference of nature before they took the first plunge in the Sangam where the river Ganga and Yamuna and a third being the mythical Saraswati would merge with them, on the first day of the Kumbh mela, on Tuesday..