ALLAHABAD: The wait is over. Renamed and reordered, Allahabad is dressed up and decked for Kumbh 2019. Throughout Monday, bare necessities tucked in bundles and perched atop their heads, lakhs of pilgrims walked on 22 pontoon bridges to reach the Sangam for the first ‘Shahi Snan’ (royal bath) on Makar Sankranti.Sadhus of 13 Akharas will take the holy dip early morning on Tuesday. By the time you read this, the bath would have already commenced. The Prayagraj Mela Authority expects over 12 million pilgrims to bathe at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the vanished Saraswati through the day. For the devout, a bath at Sangam during the seven-week event cleanses their body and soul, frees them from the unending cycle of life and death.The Yogi Adityanath govt, which has been keen to project Kumbh as an efficiently-managed event, was spurred into action on Monday afternoon when a fire broke out in the tent of Digambar Ani Akhara at Sector 16. Six tents and some property was gutted. Two vehicles were damaged. Nobody was hurt.SP (Akhara Security) Ashutosh Mishra told TOI, “As per initial investigations, LPG leakage during meal preparation triggered the fire. This was followed by a cylinder explosion. Three fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot and the fire was controlled. Four saints trapped inside a tent were rescued.”According to the state government, over 150 million people – more than Russia’s population -- are expected to be part of the government's 'Divya Kumbh, Bhavya Kumbh' spread over 3,200 hectares which culminates on Mahashivratri day (March 4). Geographically, the mela area is bigger than four countries: Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru and Tuvalu. Thousands of colorful tents have brought both beauty and symmetry to the Mela ground.On Monday, sadhus marched towards corrugated tents setting up temporary ashrams, posing for photographs, blessing devotees and chanting hymns and vedic mantras. Stalls with wares ranging from a pocket scent of kasturi deer to pooja items, including rudraksh, rare flowers and shivlings have come up on the cold Ganga bed.A naga sadhu who went by the name of Kotwal Akhand Saraswati and was attached to Juna Akhara, said, “We are excited about taking the first plunge in the Sangam. It is the hour we had been waiting for.”Ashtkaushal Mahant of Juna Akhara, Mahant Dayanand Puri said, “There is a limited time in which lakhs of sadhus have to take the holy dip along with each presiding deity and symbol of the akhara. Our Gods, including Dattatreya, Gayatri, Ganesh, Surya will be taken in a palanquin to the Sangam in a procession, including Nagas, seers in loin cloth and those in unstitched cloth to those in highest form of tapasya.”Talking about the various rituals observed by akharas during a shahi snan, citybased religious scholar Pandit Ram Naresh Tripathi, said, “The akharas also worship their ishta devta (deity) during the shahi snan. The deity is then placed on a special palki and is taken for a bath in the Sangam,” he said. The 13 akharas have been allotted time slots and a specific area for taking a bath during the shahi snan.The Mela police has also created a special corridor for the akharas. The Naga sadhus would be performing a ritual called ‘jal kreeda’ (playing in water). “The government’s efforts are showing results as Ganga does not have any tributary after the Narora dam, whereas Yamuna gets water from big rivers like Chambal and Betwa,” said SS Ojha, faculty member at Allahabad University’s geography department.

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