Maghi Purnima, also known as Magha Purnima, is known to be a full moon day that occurs during the Hindu calendar month of Magh. During this period, the auspicious Kumbh Mela is held every twelve years and the Magha Mela is held every year at the confluence of three rivers or Triveni Sangam all around North India, such as in cities like Allahabad or Prayag.
Kumbh Mela, Magha Mela and Maghi Purnima
Magh mela, also spelled Magha mela, is an annual festival with fairs held in the month of Magha (January/February) near the banks of rivers and sacred tanks near Hindu temples. Approximately every twelve years, Magha melas coincide with what devotees consider to be an astrologically auspicious position of Jupiter, the sun and the moon, and these are called Kumbh Mela. The Magha festival, along with bathing rituals as a form of penance, is also observed by the Hindu community in Bali, Indonesia.
Certain dates such as Amavasya and Makar Sankranti are considered particularly sacred, attracting a larger gathering. The festival is marked by ritual bathing in the waters, but it is also a celebration of community commerce with fairs, education, religious discourses of saints, dāna and community meals for monks and the poor, and entertainment shows.
The religious basis of the Magh Mela is the belief that pilgrimage is a means of prāyaścitta (atonement, penance) for past errors, the effort purifies one from sins and that bathing in sacred rivers during these festivals has saving value , moksha – a means to liberation from the cycle of rebirths (samsara).
The Magha Mela festival is mentioned in the Mahabharata and many major Puranas. The Magh Mela is one of the river festivals that follow the transition of Jupiter into various signs of the zodiac. These river festivals – called Pushkaram (or Pushkaralu) – rotate throughout the year to ghats and temples along India's major rivers, each worshiped as a sacred river goddess. They include ritual bathing as well as prayers to ancestors, religious discourses, devotional music and singing, charity, cultural programs and fairs.
In Sikhism, the Magha mela – along with Diwali and Vaisakhi – were three festivals recognized by Guru Amar Das who urged Sikhs to come together for a community festival (1552-1574). It is popularly known as Maghi, and it now marks the memory of the forty martyrs during a Muslim-Sikh war (1705) during the time of Guru Gobind Singh.
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Today, Indians celebrate the full moon of Magh. A purification ritual in one of the sacred rivers purifies sins. Every twelve years one of the most important Indian religious festivals, Kumbh Mela, takes place. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #magh #kumbh
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