
The Pontoon Bridges That Carry Millions at Kumbh Mela - smollett
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/11/the-pontoon-bridges-that-carry-millions-at-kumbh-mela/576823/
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msravi
Trivia:

\- The Kumbh Mela's periodicity of 12 years is based on Jupiter's period of
revolution around the sun

\- It's called _Kumbha_ mela, because _Kumbha_ is the name for Aquarius.
Jupiter spends an Earth year in each Zodiac, and the year in which it is in
Aquarius is the year of the Kumbh in Haridwar

\- Apart from Haridwar, the Kumbh is also celebrated in Prayag (which is the
festival this article is talking about), Ujjain, and Nasik. The years of these
Kumbhs are offset from the one at Haridwar. In particular, the Kumbh at Prayag
occurs when Jupiter is in Taurus (rather than Aquarius). So it should actually
be called Vrishabha Mela...

\- The Kumbh that's happening in 2019 at Prayag is actually called an _Ardh
Kumbha_ Mela, or Half-Kumbh. It occurs half-way between two full Kumbhs, i.e.,
6 years after (or before) a Full-Kumbh.

\- Prayag also hosts the _Maha Kumbha_ mela, which occurs once in 12*12=144
years. The last Maha Kumbh happened in 2013.

\- The article erroneously mentions that Prayag is the meeting point of 3
rivers - the Ganga, the Yamuna, and the (mythical) Saraswati. This is
incorrect. The Saraswati was not mythical - there is evidence for a Sub-
Himalayan Saraswati-like river flowing into the Arabian Sea until 10000 years
ago through the Rann of Kutch (see
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05745-8](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05745-8)).
Also, the Saraswati is not described as having a confluence with the
Ganga/Yamuna at Prayag in the Rig Veda - this is a later legend which does not
seem to have any basis.

~~~
jaldhar
You are right that Kumbha is Aquarius but the kumbha in kumbha mela is from
its’ primary meaning of pot. Specifically the pot of amrta (the nectar of
immortality) that the Devas and Asuras got together to churn and then fought
over. In the ensuing tussle, four drops fell at the various places on Earth
where the kumbha mela is celebrated.

The zodiacal sign is also associated with this story though probably both the
Greeks and Indians got the zodiacal concept from the Babylonians and added
their own interpretations afterwards.

Your point about the Saraswati is a bit nit picky. Yes there was a real
Saraswati (that dried up by the end of the Vedic age) but the mystical
Saraswati that flows at Prayag is not related to that

~~~
msravi
Yes, I'm aware of the pot-of-nectar legend - just didn't have the time to
check primary sources for the origin of the legend, and did not want to put
out something I was unsure of. If you have a primary reference for the origin
of that legend, that would be helpful.

As for the Saraswati, you are mistaken. The sangam (confluence) at Prayag
being referred to as "Triveni" (three rivers) is a recent invention (1860 or
thereabouts) and is first referred to in written literature in 1873. And it is
the same Saraswati river. See
[https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/The-story-of-
Tri...](https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/The-story-of-
Triveni/article14553336.ece)

To quote:

"...the word Triveni was used for the first time in 1873 to convey the
confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in the six-volume Sanskrit work
Abhidhan Vachaspatya of Taranath Tarkvachaspati, who was associated with
Government Sanskrit College, Calcutta (now Kolkata). Otherwise, according to
its etymology, it meant triple-braided. Whether it is Valmiki or Kalidasa, no
Sanskrit poet has used the word Triveni to denote the confluence of rivers at
Prayag (Allahabad). Whenever they referred to it, it was always as a
confluence of two rivers Ganga and Yamuna."

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saiya-jin
Anybody experienced this festival first hand? It had been my dream to witness
this as an outsider, having very special memories of few days spent in
Varanasi hanging around burning ghats.

But maybe I am romanticizing the event and actually its much less pleasant for
foreigner.

~~~
RileyJames
I was at the 2012 Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad. (some of the pictures are from
that event).

It was the craziest event I’ve ever seen, and after 3 months in India I
thought I’d seen some stuff.

Nope.

Naga baba’s, doing their tricks and proving their holiness (beating their
penis and using them to pick up boulders).

Sat with the guy who’s been holding his arm up to god for, I don’t know 20+
years.

Anything extreme and devoted is considered holy. So this festival brings all
those people together, to show in their own way, their devotion.

It’s so loud and chaotic, 24x7. It’s like Times Square meets a music festival,
but in every direction, for as far as you can see.

It’s a whole temporary city constructed on the banks of the river, for this
festival. Each guru / sect has their own campsite.

Any camp site will feed you, get you stoned, put you up for the night and send
you on your way in the morning. (Or you can stay for the rest of your life).

I would recommend it for anyone. But if you get tired of a 3 day music
festival... this is going to test you.

It’s everything I loved so much about India.

~~~
saiya-jin
Thank you, you motivated me even more :) (spent 6 months in India backpacking
around and in the Himalayas, it is an universe on its own)

~~~
RileyJames
No worries, it’s a unique experience.

I would recommend starting your stay at one of the “foreigner” camps. These
are usually the camps of leaders from that are based in, or have a major
following from, a developed nation. (We stayed a Brazilian buba’s camp). It
was a good base camp, to escape the festival when necessary.

From there you can explore as deep into the festival as you want. It goes for
2 months, so you’ve got plenty of time.

It can eventually become overwhelming and you’ll need somewhere to recharge.

------
yumraj
Just to put scale into perspective, since sometimes it helps to better
visualize, only 14 _countries_
([http://worldpopulationreview.com/](http://worldpopulationreview.com/)) have
a population more than 100M.

Also, 100M is almost 1/3rd the population of U.S., more than the entire
population of Vietnam, almost the same at the entire population of Egypt,
roughly 1/2 the population of Pakistan ...

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dsfyu404ed
Part of me says that is surprisingly good pontoon design and fabrication all
things considered.

Part of me says that labor is cheap enough relative to material so why don't
they dot all their T's and cross all their I's with the design and
construction.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since it's just a temporary structure.

~~~
peterwwillis
I was going to say that this looks like massive over-engineering, but I don't
know how long they're used for or what kind of maximum loads they require. You
could build pontoons out of bales of bamboo or plastic drum barrels and still
drive a tank over it. But with steel pontoons, the weight of all that steel is
actually countering some of the displacement. Probably part of why they have
to be so big...

Edit: It looks like the pontoons are actually sitting on the river bottom in a
lot of places, so I guess that's why they need to be so strong.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
I was thinking more along the lines of they should spend the extra 10min per
bulkhead to build a proper "node" with the L-channel at the center of each
bulkhead. That would let them use lighter (cheaper) material and have equal or
greater strength. This is more important for a pontoon resting on the bottom
because than one floating. When the guy cutting the channel is making
$15USD/hr it's cheaper just to buy overkill material. When the guy cutting the
material is making whatever they make in India it's worth it to have him spend
the extra few minutes to put the proper angles on the ends.

I mean yeah, it probably is all overkill but I'm used to having to build
things that have to withstand high dynamic loading so when it comes to mostly
static objects I tend to over build things.

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hn3333
Can anyone provide a Google Maps satellite link?

~~~
msravi
[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prayagraj,+Uttar+Pradesh/@...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prayagraj,+Uttar+Pradesh/@25.4021974,81.6614988,49520m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x398534c9b20bd49f:0xa2237856ad4041a!8m2!3d25.4358011!4d81.846311)

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sigi45
Aaaand it will also be the dirtiest water you will ever walk over.

