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[[File:Scenes from every land, second series; a collection of 250 illustracions picturing the people, natural phenomena, and animal life in all parts of the world. With one map and a bibliography of (14580412870).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A photo (c. 1909) by Ada Lee. It shows a Hindu pilgrim gathering at a Magha Mela at Ganga Sagar, [[West Bengal]] – where river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal.]]
'''Magh mela''', also spelled '''Magha mela''', is an annual festival with fairs held in the month of ''Magha'' (January/February) near river banks and sacred tanks near [[Hindu temple]]s.<ref name=eckp152/> About every twelve years, ''Magha melas'' coincide with what is believed by faithful as an astrologically auspicious position of Jupiter, sun and moon, and these are called the ''[[Kumbh Mela]]'' such as the one at Allahabad (officially, Prayagraj). In the south, a notable festival is at the [[Mahamaham tank]] in [[Kumbhakonam]]; in the east, at [[Sagar_Island#Pilgrimage|Sagar island]] of West Bengal and Konark, [[Puri]].<ref>[https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Latest-News/2019-02-12/Thousands-take-holy-dip-near-Konark-on-Magha-Mela/493411 Thousands take holy dip near Konark on Magha Mela], The Hans India (January 2019)</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/6988952/Hindu-devotees-bathe-in-the-Ganges-river-in-India-on-the-occasion-of-Makar-Sankranti-at-the-Magh-Mela.html?image=4 Hindu devotees bathe in the Ganges river in India on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at the Magh Mela], Telegraph UK (2019), Quote: "Pilgrims walk in a serpentine queue to offer their respects at the Kapil Muni temple after taking holy dips on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Gangasagar on Sagar Island"</ref> The Magha festival, along with the bathing rituals as a form of penance, is also observed by the Hindu community in Bali, [[Indonesia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder|title=Kalangwan; a survey of old Javanese literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G2AOAAAAYAAJ|year=1974|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|page=194}}</ref>

Certain dates such as the ''Amavasya'' and the [[Makar Sankranti]] are considered particularly sacred, attracting a larger gathering. The festival is marked by a ritual dip in the waters, but it is also a celebration of community commerce with fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, ''[[dāna]]'' and community meals for the monks and the poor, and entertainment spectacle.<ref name=eckp152>{{cite book|author=Diana L. Eck|title=India: A Sacred Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uD_0P6gS-vMC|year=2012|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-385-53190-0|pages=152–155}}</ref><ref name=sox5264>{{cite book|author=Williams Sox| editor= Lindsay Jones| title=Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd Edition| year= 2005|publisher= Macmillan|volume= 8|pages=5264–5265}}</ref>

The religious basis for the Magh Mela is the belief that pilgrimage is a means for [[prāyaścitta]] (atonement, penance) for past mistakes,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kane |first=P. V. |authorlink=Pandurang Vaman Kane |year=1953 |title=History of Dharmaśāstra: Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India |volume=4 |url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfDharmasastraancientAndMediaevalReligiousAndCivilLawV.4 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfDharmasastraancientAndMediaevalReligiousAndCivilLawV.4/page/n463 55]-56}}</ref> the effort cleanses them of sins and that bathing in holy rivers at these festivals has a [[salvation|salvific]] value, ''moksha'' – a means to liberation from the cycle of rebirths (''samsara'').<ref name="ColemanElsner1995p140">{{cite book|author1=Simon Coleman|author2=John Elsner|title=Pilgrimage: Past and Present in the World Religions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqPtMU0QZ8sC |year=1995|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-66766-2|pages=140–141}}</ref><ref>Kama McLean (2009), ''Seeing, Being Seen, and Not Being Seen: Pilgrimage, Tourism, and Layers of Looking at the Kumbh Mela'', Cross Currents, Vol. 59, Issue 3, pages 319-341</ref> According to Diane Eck – professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, these festivals are "great cultural fairs" which brings people together, tying them with a shared thread of religious devotion, with an attendant bustle of commerce, trade and secular entertainment.<ref>{{cite book|author=Diana L. Eck|title=India: A Sacred Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyC4o7i9tnEC|year=2013|publisher=Three Rivers Press|isbn=978-0-385-53192-4|pages=152–155}}</ref>

The Magha Mela festival is mentioned in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and in many major [[Puranas]].<ref name=eckp152/><ref>{{cite book|title=Purāṇam, Vol. 10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXR1AAAAIAAJ|year=1988|publisher=All-India Kasiraja Trust|pages=61–62}}</ref> The Magh Mela is a part of the river festivals that follow the transition of Jupiter into various zodiac signs. These river festivals – called [[Pushkaram]] (or Pushkaralu) – rotate over the year to ghats and temples along the major rivers of India, each revered as a sacred river goddess. They include the ritual bathing as well as prayers to ancestors, religious discourses, devotional music and singing, charity, cultural programs and fairs.<ref name="Dalal2010p319">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC| year=2010 |publisher =Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|pages=319–320}}</ref>

An annual bathing festival is also mentioned in ancient Tamil anthologies of the [[Sangam literature|Sangam period]]. For example, nine of the surviving poems in the ''[[Paripatal]]'' collection is dedicated to river goddess Vaikai.<ref name=zvelebil123>{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ |year=1973 |publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-03591-5|pages=123–124}}</ref><ref name="rdb2004p235">{{cite book|author1=A. K. Ramanujan|author2=Vinay Dharwadker|author3=Stuart H. Blackburn|title=The collected essays of A.K. Ramanujan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2waAQAAIAAJ |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-566896-4|page=235}}, Quote: "seventy poems dedicated to gods Tirumal (Visnu), Cevvel (Murukan) and the goddess, the river Vaiyai (presently known as Vaikai)."</ref> These poems mention bathing festivals in the Tamil month of Tai (January/February) after the month of Margazhi, a period which overlaps with the northern month of Magh. These bathing festivals are depicted as spiritually auspicious and occasions for water sports, fairs and community gathering.<ref>The festive bathing lines in the poem also allude to rebirths and merits in previous lives; ''Pari. 11:88–92'', {{cite book|author1=V.N. Muthukumar|author2=Elizabeth Rani Segran|title=The River Speaks: The Vaiyai Poems from the Paripatal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnwruNVgFUkC&pg=PT104 |year=2012|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-81-8475-694-4|pages=103–105 with notes on "Lines 184–91"}}</ref><ref name=zvelebil123/>

In [[Sikhism]], the Magha mela – along with [[Diwali]] and [[Vaisakhi]] – were three festivals recognized by [[Guru Amar Das]] who urged Sikhs to gather for a community festival (1552–1574 CE).<ref>{{cite book|author=H.S. Singha|title=Sikh Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRodBu9seiIC |year=2005| publisher=Hemkunt Press|isbn=978-81-7010-245-8|pages=101–102}}</ref> It is popularly known as [[Maghi]], and it now marks the memory of the forty martyrs during a Muslim-Sikh war (1705 CE) during the time of the [[Guru Gobind Singh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQeKTUXphPMC|title=Glimpses of Sikhism|first=Major Nahar Singh|last=Jawandha|date=1 January 2010|publisher=Sanbun Publishers|accessdate=14 September 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref> The largest Maghi gathering is found in Muktsar.<ref>B.S. Marwaha (1969), ''Maghi fair – Muktsar'', Sikh Review, 18(186): 44–46</ref> According to Pashaura Singh and Louis Fenech, Guru Amar Das built Goindwal Sahib as a Sikh pilgrimage site (tirath).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Pashaura Singh|author2=Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzYeAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93| year=2014| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-100412-4|pages=93–94}}</ref> He also built a ''baoli'' – stepped water tank – at Goindwal for ritual bathing.<ref>{{cite book|author=Harjot Oberoi | editor1=Anshu Malhotra|editor2=Farina Mir|title=Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vQtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254|year= 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-908877-5|pages=254–255}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hindu festivals]] in india
[[Category:Folk festivals in India]]
[[Category:Sikh festivals]]
[[Category:Fairs in India]]

Magh Mela - Revision history

2409:4060:11D:2979:0:0:1522:C8B1 at 07:55, 10 July 2021