Simhastha (Kumbh Mela), Ujjain – History, Legend

Simhastha Kumbh Mela Ujjain

Kumbh Mela in Ujjain is the most celebrated religious and spiritual gathering at the seat of Mahakaleshwar Temple, one of the ‘Dwadash Jyotirlingam’. Kumbh Mela is the greatest and most important of India’s periodical fairs. After every twelve years, the Kumbh Mela is held in Ujjain and popularly known as Ujjain Simhastha (सिंहस्थ). Honoring Lord Shiva in Ujjain during Kumbh Mela is considered equal to a thousand years of prayerful austerities! Exact date of the origin of the fair is obscure but, presumably, it originated as a meeting place for the main religious heads in the country to discuss and exchange ideas, since Hinduism has no supreme hierarchical head, competent to lay down canons for the whole community. It is at present an important obligation on all Hindu religious sects to send their Pontiffs or representatives to the Mela. In fact, the number of religious heads attached to institutions, philosophers, ascetics, wandering mendicants, high priests of temples and their disciples, etc., who attend the festival form a considerable part of the pilgrims, and it is the prospect of their ‘darshan’ that forms an important incentive for the pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela. The grand gathering takes place in Ujjain on the banks of River Kshipra.

The legend current about Kumbh Mela is that the earth was hallowed in four places by contact with the Kumbh or jar of nectar. The gods, we are told, fell under the curse of a sage and became emaciated and wished to regain their old vigour by feasting on Amrita or the cream of the milk ocean. The weak gods could not churn the ocean by themselves and enlisted the support of the Asuras, their inveterate enemies, by promising to them a portion of the ambrosia. As the churning progressed, the ocean began to yield its treasures one by one, and lastly appeared the sage Dhanwantari with the coveted Kumbh or jar of nectar. The Asuras were physically stronger and seized the Kumbh, but one of the gods assumed the form of a rook and whisked away the jar, with the Asuras in hot pursuit. The bird on its way to paradise is said to have taken rest at Nasik, Ujjain, Prayagraj (Allahabad) and Haridwar. The rook took twelve days to reach paradise from the milk ocean, and as each divine day is reckoned equivalent to an earth year, Kumbh Mela is celebrated once in twelve years at each of these four places. According to another version of the legend, as the gods and the Asuras struggled for the possession of Kumbh, some nectar, spilt from the jar, fell at the four places mentioned above.

The Mela is not held at all the four places on the same date but in turn and hence we have a Kumbh Mela every three years or so. At Ujjain, the Kumbh festival called Simhastha takes place in the spring-time month of Vaishakha, also at the full moon. Seeing a great man or saint is considered spiritually elevating among the Hindus, and is known as ‘Darshan’. No doubt, Ujjain (ancient name Avantika) garners immense religious and cultural sanctity due to Mahakaleshwar Temple and Kumbh Mela. Rounding out the cumulative sanctity of Ujjain is the blessing bestowed on the place by those drops of the nectar of immortality, splashed upon this place as the gods wrestled it away from the clutches of the demons and sped off to heaven.