Word: yamuna
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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...
...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 of the world, making last Wednesday the holiest...
Though any dip in the Ganges washes away all previous sins, the Kumbh Mela offers an incomparably greater benefit. As the ancient poet Kalidas said, "Purified by a bath at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna, a person attains salvation after death even without acquiring true knowledge." For last week's pilgrims, this means that at death they will at last escape the endless cycle of birth and rebirth, and enter the bliss of union with the absolute...