The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at sacred tirthans or river-ford sites, along the Ganges river in India. Rooted in Hinduism’s ancient theological texts, bathing rituals have survived wars, revolution, and famine, but its biggest threat has been epidemic diseases, in this pandemic situation. We ignored the threat of covid-19 by allowing the pilgrim to throng at Kumbh Mela.
People from various parts of the country and from other countries participate in Kumbh, as this is held every 12 years, so devotees wait for and are very eager to come to Kumbh. Keeping in view those aspects, the government could not cancel the Mela, however, they put some not to speak of restrictions, that is barring people below 10 years of age and more than 60 years of age. Apart from age restrictions, the covid-19 negative report was mandatory an appeal from authority was to avoid going in Mela those who are suffering from any ailments.
But, all those things could not stop the second wave from being spread. The configuration of Kumbh Mela is different from another type of public gathering, in which everyone takes bath at the same station on the top of that with the same running water. The site of Mela becomes smaller than the area occupied by devotees if they follow social distancing, so social distancing measures could not be followed properly.
During travelling, by train and in flights proper norms for travelling were being followed, but as soon as they started walking towards sites every norm was being mocked.
In addition to that high emotion and high devotion to the Kumbh paved the way for ignoring the norms of covid-19, as devotees think that we are going to the threshold of maa Ganga, she will save us from the pandemic. Some devotees mocked that scientific temperament and did not follow covid rules.
All this carelessness paved the way for the second wave.
The exact role of the Hindu religious festival — the Kumbh Mela — in India’s epidemic outbreak is impossible to know in the absence of contact perception.
Coronavirus has deformed India’s health system. Patients are on their own. The combination of a spacious wave of coronavirus cases and one of the biggest mass gatherings on the planet has fueled criticism that India’s government should have mitigated the religious event or cancel it altogether.
As per the medical health officer, it is said that in Ahmedabad, a city in the western state of Gujarat, many devotees returned from the festival on trains. About 10 percent of those tested came back positive for coronavirus. They were sent to institutional quarantine. The eastern state of Odisha and the northeastern state of Assam also confirmed that people returning from Haridwar had tested positive for the virus.
Massive crowds join the Kumbh Mela religious ceremony in India despite a spike in coronavirus cases.
