Word: allahabad
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...conch shells and cymbals sounded, the first flower-decked palanquin, bearing the leader of Hinduism's Maha Nirvana sect, moved toward the river bank near Allahabad where the Yamuna River meets the Ganges. Alongside marched a troop of elephants, trumpeting, their heaving bodies covered with garlands and painted symbols. Then through the police cordon flowed thousands of pilgrims from nine other ancient Hindu sects. Among them came a procession of Naga sadhus, celibate holy men who follow Shiva, the god of the forces of both life and destruction. They were all naked, except for a coating of sand...
Wash Sins. Devout Hindus bathe in the Ganges all year long to wash away their sins, but the spiritual effect of the ablutions is considered most potent during the festivals that are held at twelve-year intervals on one of four sites. The Kumbh Mela at Allahabad is the most blessed, for here the Ganges meets not only the Yamuna but the Saraswati, a legendary underground river. This spot is known as the Sangam (sacred confluence). Some holy men, moreover, deem the current configuration of the sun, moon and stars to be exactly the same as at the creation...
...length and breadth of India asking people to give up one-tenth of their land to the landless. A padayatra has become the customary way for leaders to make contact with their people. In 1959 Mrs. Gandhi walked for four days through her father Jawaharlal Nehru's Allahabad constituency. This year Indira, 58, reduced her padayatra to a mile-long, 50-min. walk through the single village of Hillaur. There were other differences, reports TIME Correspondent James Shepherd, who was along for both walks...
...Touch. In 1959 Indira made the trip to Allahabad and back by train, traveling third-class; there were only three journalists along to watch her press on indefatigably for 16 hrs. a day through the villages, drinking innumerable glasses of sweet, milky tea and, in one village, sharing a simple meal of vegetable curry with the inhabitants. This year she arrived by special air force turboprop and helicopter; she carried her water with her from New Delhi and, as she marched briskly between the mud huts, ankle-deep in dust, she was preceded by a running dogfight between reporters...
...Allahabad decision had triggered a mounting protest campaign by Mrs. Gandhi's opposition that led her to declare a state of emergency and suspend many of India's democratic freedoms. After the Supreme Court's ruling, Mrs. Gandhi emerged from her New Delhi home to speak to a jubilant crowd of her supporters. "In joy and sorrow you have always been with me," she said, denouncing her opponents as "those who started the trouble." The Prime Minister gave no clue as to what she would do next. Unquestionably, she will push ahead on the ambitious social...