page_title: Haridwar Kumbh Mela
section_title: British Raj
hierarchical_section_title: Haridwar Kumbh Mela / British Raj
caption_attribution_description: Haridwar Kumbh Mela - 1850s. Steel engraving
context_page_description: The Kumbh Mela at Haridwar is a mela held every 12 years at Haridwar, India. The exact date is determined according to Hindu astrology: the Mela is held when Jupiter is in Aquarius and the sun enters Aries. An Ardh Kumbh Mela is held six years after a Kumbh Mela.The Kumbh Mela Officer for 2021 is Deepak Rawat.
  The event possesses deep religious significance to Hindus as well as other spiritual seekers. Historically, it was an important commercial event, and was attended by merchants from as far as Arabia.
  The last Haridwar Kumbh Mela took place in 2010; the next one is scheduled in 2021, while an Ardh Kumbh Mela took place in 2016.
context_section_description: After the 1857 uprising, the East India Company was dissolved and its territories came under the control of British crown. British civil servant Robert Montgomery Martin, in his book The Indian Empire (1858), remarked that "it is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the grandeur and beauty" of the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar. According to him, the visitors at the fair included people from a large number of races and regions. Besides priests, soldiers, and religious mendicants, the fair was attended by a large number of merchants: horse traders, elephant dealers, grain merchants (banias), confectioners (halwais), cloth merchants and toy sellers. The horse dealers came from as far as Bukhara, Kabul, Turkistan, Arabia and Persia. Besides horses and elephants, several other animals were sold at the fair, including "bears, leopards, tigers, deer of all kinds, monkeys, Persian greyhounds, beautiful cats, and rare birds". Europeans also sold their merchandise at the fair. The fair was also attended by the dancing girls, who performed for the rich visitors.
  Several Hindu rajas, Muslim Nawabs and the Sikh royals also visited the fair. Begum Samru of Sardhana would often come to the fair, with her retinue of 1,000 horse cavalry and 1,500 infantry. A few Christian missionaries also visited the Mela, and distributed copies of the Bible translated into "the various dialects of the East".
  Martin mentions that the Brahmins collected the taxes, but did not perform any sacerdotal role in the bathing rites, which were performed without any priestly ceremonies. He states that in the earlier years, a number of people died in stampedes as devotees rushed towards the river bank. However, the danger of stampedes had reduced since the government constructed a new ghat and widened the road leading to it.
  The police and civil magistrates were deployed to maintain law and order. The Sirmoor battalion of Gurkha soldiers from Dehradun was deployed to maintain peace.
caption: Haridwar Kumbh Mela by the English painter J. M. W. Turner. Steel engraving, 1850s.
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