Kumbh Mela

The Maha Kumbh is the largest and most significant, held once every 12 years at one of four holy sites—Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is a significant Hindu festival currently taking place in Prayagraj, India, from January 13 to February 26, 2025. This event, held once every 144 years, is anticipated to attract approximately 400 million devotees.

The Kumbh Mela is held every 3 years, rotating between four holy cities. On the other hand, the Maha Kumbh Mela takes place once every 12 years and always takes place in Prayagraj. Usually, The Kumbh Mela follows a 12-year cycle based on the celestial positions of the sun, moon, and Jupiter. When this 12-year cycle occurs 12 times (12 x 12 = 144), the 12th Kumbh Mela is called the Maha Kumbh, which is celebrated in an exceptionally grand grand manner.

There are four types of Kumbh Melas celebrated in India. These include

1.      The Maha Kumbh,

2.      The Ardh Kumbh,

3.      The Purna Kumbh, and

4.      The Magha Kumbh.

The Ardh Kumbh occurs every six years in Prayagraj.

The Purna Kumbh is celebrated every 12 years at Haridwar.
The Magha Kumbh is a smaller event held annually during the Magha month at specific locations.

Each Kumbh Mela holds immense spiritual importance for millions of devotees.

Kumbh Mela, also called KUMBHA MELA, Hindi KUMBH MELA, is the greatest of the Hindu pilgrimage festivals. It is a riverside religious fair held four times every 12 years, rotating between Hardwär on the Ganges, Ujjain on the Sipra, Nasik on the Godavari, and Prayagraj, which lies at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati. Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbh Mela is seen as an act of great merit, cleansing body and soul, and it attracts millions.

The Chinese Buddhist traveller Hsüan-tsang recorded a visit to the Allahabad Kumbh Mela in the 7th century in the company of the emperor Harşavardhana, who distributed alms on the occasion. In the 8th century, the philosopher Sankara established four monasteries, in the north, south, east, and west of India, and encouraged the sadhus (holy men) to meet at the Kumbh Mela for an exchange of views. The informal assembly of ascetics and yogis that took place at the melas (festivals) served as a kind of "parliament of Hinduism" for the discussion of religious doctrine and possible reform and has remained a major attraction for the pilgrim. Sadhus who stay naked the year round, ascetics who practice the most severe physical disciplines, hermits who leave their isolation for these pilgrimages only, teachers who use modern microphones and public-address systems to talk to the crowds, frauds, and true saints of all sects and from all parts of India-gather in camps along the riverbank and are visited by the pilgrims.

Pilgrimages have always been undertaken in India with a sense of possible danger, and though the cholera epidemics, widespread murder, and kidnappings of former Kumbha Melas have now been successfully controlled by the government, tragedies still occur. In 1954, at the Kumbha Mela at Allahabad, more than 500 people were killed in a sudden onrush of crowds toward the bathing area.

The explanation given in the Puranas for the Kumbh Mela is that the gods and the demons fought over the pot (Kumbha) of Amrit (am- rta), the elixir that rose up from their joint churning of the milky ocean. During the battle, drops of the elixir fell on four earthly sites, these being the four sites of the mela. The fair's aspect as a fertility festival is evident in a tradition, said to have been carried out in former days, of dipping pots of grain in the river during this highly auspicious period. The consecrated grain was later sowed with other grain to ensure a good harvest.

The festival has its roots in a Hindu tradition that says the god Vishnu wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. Hindus believe that a few drops fell in the cities of Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar — the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries.

The festival involves ritual baths by Hindu sadhus (holy men) and pilgrims at the confluence of three sacred rivers: the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati.

This practice, dating back to at least medieval times, is believed to purify the soul and aid in attaining Moksha, or liberation.

The Uttar Pradesh government has invested over ₹70 billion in infrastructure and sanitation projects to accommodate the massive influx of pilgrims. Efforts include deploying 10,000 sanitation workers and establishing around 150,000 toilets and urinals to maintain cleanliness. Additionally, a 100-bed temporary central hospital has been set up to provide medical services.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is not only a religious gathering but also a cultural spectacle, symbolizing the victory of gods over demons. It stands as one of the world's largest peaceful congregations, reflecting the profound spiritual heritage of India.

The Maha Kumbh Mela has its origins in the ancient Hindu tale of the Samudra Manthan, or the Churning of the Ocean. According to mythology, the gods and demons churned the ocean to obtain Amrit, the nectar of immortality.

The Maha Kumbh Mela will span 44 days in 2025, marking its significance in Hindu spirituality and culture. Historical Attendance Records: The 2013 Maha Kumbh Mela drew an unprecedented 10 crore (100 million) attendees, showcasing its massive scale and influence.

With the commencement of Kumbh Mela, the first of the ritual baths were conducted, in which sadhu akhadaas took the first dip after an elaborate procession to the river. Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani and Shri Shambhu Panchayati Atal Akhara were the first ones to take the Amrit snan. Thirteen akhadaas are participating in the Maha Kumbh. After the sadhus, or holy men, thousands of devotees took the dip in the sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati) at Prayagraj.

 

Magnet and Magnetism-( Mystery)

 

Magnet and Magnetism

A small magnet can pick up metal objects such as paper clips and nails. A magnet seems to have some mysterious pulling power. Even if you lay a piece of paper over the nails, the magnet pulls them. This pulling power is called magnetism.

People first noticed magnetism thousands of years ago. They discovered that pieces of a certain kind of black rock had a strange force, which came to be called magnetism. No one knows just how the name was chosen. There is a story that the force was named for a shepherd called Magnes, who discovered that the iron nails in his sandals were pulled strongly when he stood on a large black stone. Another story is that the name came from a place called Magnesia, in Asia Minor, where this kind of stone was first found. There are fanciful stories, too, from ancient times about iron statues held in mid-air by magnets, and about magnetic mountains that could pull the nails out of wooden ships that sailed too near.

After a while, people discovered some useful facts about black rock or magnet. They found that when a long, thin piece was hung up by thread it would swing around and stop in a north-and-south position. The same end of the piece always pointed toward the north. This meant that such a magnet could be used as a compass.

Sailors began to use such compasses to guide their ships when the moon or stars could not be seen. The magnetic rock became known as lodestone, meaning "leading stone." To make a compass, a sailor took a sliver of lodestone and laid it on a piece of wood floating in a tub of water. This made it possible for the lodestone to turn freely into the north-south position.

There are other important facts about magnetism that you can easily find out for yourself. Lay a bar magnet on a pile of tacks and then pick it up. The tacks will cling to the bar mainly near its two ends. These two places, where the force is strong, are called the poles of the magnet. When the bar is used as a compass, one end swings to the north. The pole at this end of the bar is called the north pole.

One big question remains: Just what are the little unit magnets found in iron and steel and a few other materials? More than a century ago, the French scientist A. M. Ampère had the idea that these little magnets might be caused by tiny electric currents flowing inside the molecules of the material. Scientists already knew that magnetic fields could be produced by electric currents, and Ampère's idea proved to be right.

 It is now known that the currents that cause the unit magnets come from the movement of electrons inside the atoms of certain materials. Some of the magnetism comes from the circling of electrons around the center of the atom. But the main part is due to the spinning of an electron around its axis; each electron has a spin much like that of a toy top.

In most atoms, all these electron motions just cancel out, and so the material is non-magnetic. In a few kinds of atoms, including iron, the magnetic effects of the circling and spinning do not quite cancel out. What is left over makes these materials magnetic.

The story of the unit magnets is not quite finished. Unit magnets are not atoms or electrons, but special groups of atoms. In a material such as iron, the atoms gather in clusters. When they do this, all the little atom magnets in the group line up in the same direction. Such a cluster is called a magnetic domain. Domains are usually a few thousandths of an inch across and may contain millions of billions of atoms. Each domain acts like a little magnet. It is the unit magnet that Ampère first thought about. In an ordinary, unmagnetized piece of iron or steel, the tiny domains face in all directions and their effects cancel out. But if the material is put in a strong magnetic field, two things happen. The domains swing around, little by little, in the direction of the field. As they come into line, they may also grow bigger by taking over some atoms from the other domains, which then shrink in size. When a great many domains have been well lined up in one direction, the whole piece of iron or steel becomes a magnet.

Scientists know that disturbing a steel magnet or heating it can make it lose its magnetism. The reason is that such treatment lets some of the domains get out of their lined-up positions. If a piece of iron is heated until it glows dull red, then it cannot be magnetized at all.

 

Gordius Knot

Sham Misri

The people of Phrygia, an ancient country of Asia Minor, were advised by the gods to choose as king the first man they met on the way to Jupiter's temple. It so happened that the farmer a peasant Gordius passed by, driving a wagon, and hailed as king to his great amazement, he dedicated his wagon to the god Jupiter.

Now Gordius is remembered for the knot by which he fixed his wagon to the temple. So cleverly was it tied that no end could be observed in the cord, and it came to be predicted that whoever could untie the Gordian knot would win the whole empire of Asia.

When Alexander the Great happened to pass that way in his conquering sweep across Asia Minor. He tried to undo the knot but was unable to solve the puzzle. Anxiously, but excitedly he drew his sword and slashed the knot in two. This daring act impressed his soldiers, who already considered Alexander as the future conqueror of Asia. We now speak of any problem solved in a drastic way as a Gordian knot.