Kumbh mela is a major pilgrimage and festival in

hinduism.it is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12

years to celebrate every revolution brihaspati completes at
4 river pilgrimage sites-Allahabad,Haridwar,Nashik and
Ujain.The festival is marked by a ritualistic dip in the holy
water, but it is also a celebration of community commerce
with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by
saints, mass feedings of monks or the poor, and
entertainment spectacle.According to a current survey,it
was found that approximately 60 million Hindus gathered
for the kumbh mela in the religious pilgrims.Looking into
the current scenario,kumb mela led to the increase in
covid 19 cases in india.The Kumbh Melas have three dates
around which the significant majority of pilgrims
participate, while the festival itself lasts between
one[19] to three months around these dates.[20] Each
festival attracts millions, with the largest gathering at the
Prayag Kumbh Mela and the second largest at Haridwar

There had been a sharp drop in case numbers in January

and February, but with cases and deaths now rising
again, hospitals across the country are reporting a
shortage of beds, oxygen cylinders and drugs. Amid
rising coronavirus cases in the country, thousands of saffron-
clad seers and ash-smeared Nagas flouted COVID-19 norms
and converged in Haridwar for a holy dip in the Ganga during
the second royal bath of the Kumbh Mela . The seers of
different akhadas, led by their Mahamandaleshwaras, by
turns took out grand Shobha Yatras through the main
thoroughfare of the pilgrimage city to gather at Brahma
Kund, Hari ki Pairi for the holy bath .Marching barefoot to
their destination with many of them not wearing masks or
observing social distancing, the seers took a dip in the river. it
might be seen as a great break from the gloom and doom that
the world is facing since the past one year — to have a
congregation where lakhs of devotees will throng in good faith.
But then if you happen to be pragmatic, you will also see one
lakh forty-five thousand three hundred and eighty- four red
flags because those are the highest single-day Covid cases that
have been reported .The covid cases were constantly
increasing and the kumbh mela proved to be the mode of
transmision of the viruse during the pandemic.Hindus
believe the river is holy and taking a dip in it will cleanse
them of their sins and bring salvation.

It was about the stark bias that was being sen in the reporting
media.the nation was already dealing with the second wave of
covid and there were chances of the third wave also during the
lockdown just beacause of the kumbh mela.the devotes were
not even wearing a mask and not observed social distancing
also,which led to the the spread of the contagious viruse.The
fact social distancing seemed imposible as lakhs of people
were climbing one over other.The devotees were asked to
follow the strict covid norms,but the peole did not seem to
follow them except a handfull of them which led to chaos and
difficult for the police and the paramilitary force to handle
them and to make them follow the guidlines.The forces
appointed there themselves confronted that handling a huge
crowd at the same time was not possible at all.Many people
were not only affected by covid,some of the even died.The
prime minister and some of the great saints pleaded people to
not gather for the holy dip as saving lives was sacred and
asked people to follow the protocols but none them seemed to
do so.When deevotes arrived for the holy bath,it seemed that
they were not known to the fact that coronaviruse is still going
on.The devotees had become so careless that they forgot to
follow the covid protocols derived by the goverment for there
safety an due to there carelesness havoc was created.Religious
festivals like the Kumbh that involve bathing and
commensal eating and living conditions are very
dangerous for spreading this deadly illness.As the Kumbh
Mela is being held in Haridwar on a massive scale during
the COVID-19 pandemic, infections have escalated to
1,278, of which 18 seers have tested positive.Millions of
Hindus have gathered on the banks of India’s sacred
Ganges river to celebrate the Kumbh Mela, even as health
officials warned that the country’s health system was at
serious risk from surging coronavirus cases.Some of the
akhadas even said that death of everyone is certain one
day but traditions should not be ignored.

The pandemic had posed a big unique challenge for the

authorities, because the Kumbh Mela is a huge religious
event and balancing that with the COVID-19 protocol of
social distancing would be a thin line to walk.The
measures taken by the goverment to make the holy dip
safe and successful failed as it was successful but not safe
as thousands of people were affected by the covid
illness.Therefore,Kumbh mela during the pandemic was
not a practical idea.