An excerpt from The Bonds We Share: Images of Humanity, 40 Years Around the Globe.
Once every 12 years, an amazing event occurs at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in northern India. In four specific holy cities, during the lunar month of Magh spanning January and February, a huge tented city is constructed. Pilgrims, Hindu devotees, Sadhus (holy men), tourists, and more flood one of these four cities to bathe twice daily in the Holy Ganges in order to live a life of spiritual devotion. This is arguably the largest congregation of humanity on Earth. The four cities that have a Kumbh Mela every 12 years are Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik. I have been honored to have attended all four Melas, and twice in Allahabad, which had 130 million people at one time on the grounds.
These Melas are intensely crowded and noisy, with competing loudspeakers blasting out distorted sounds day and night. The area is polluted, with only the most rudimentary waste disposal facilities and sanitation. This paves the way for easy transmission of pathogens. Many pilgrims live in flimsy tents with little or no heating, even at times when temperatures can reach freezing. In spite of the winter cold, naked Sadhus will immerse themselves in the icy ‘mystical and holy’ river. Such is the power of spirituality and religion.
All of this might seem destined to create stress, annoyance, discomfort, and tensions between people, disrupting social functioning. But in essence, the Kumbh Mela works and does so quite smoothly. People interact harmoniously, respecting each other, giving space to others, showing civility, and providing a helping hand if needed, even to strangers. In the middle of what appears to many Westerners as “chaos,” many Indians that I have interviewed describe the mood as “serene and blissful.” Some research shows that people who have attended the Mela stated their “wellbeing” was measured as better even after the Mela than those who didn’t participate at all.
Might this suggest something about the conditions of social life more generally? Might this explain India, the most populated nation in the world where massive crowds are the rule and not the exception? The researchers suggest that a major reason people feel a sense of wellbeing is due to the development of a shared identity. Pilgrims come to the Mela to see themselves and others as a group: as “us” rather than “me” and “you.” People have the same perspective and goals. They expect to agree with others, have their views validated, and receive support from others. Pilgrims thus make space for others to perform their devotions and do not interrupt them with just “gossip.” The devout become better able to realize their fundamental goal of living a spiritual life.
The takeaway here is that a sense of shared identity (Hindus’ devotion to God) provides the underpinning for a sense of community and civility, resulting in a sense of physical wellbeing.
As a keen observer of India for 33 years, crowds can easily intimidate those not accustomed to such an intrusion on one’s privacy. Indians in the big cities are not fazed in the least by extremely crowded conditions, which can be easily seen on trains, buses, roads, markets, festivals, and streets — indeed, everywhere. Conditions few Westerners would ever tolerate for any length of time.
India is quite a remarkable place, different from any other nation I have ever traveled to, and I know deep down it is my muse.
Glenn Mark Losack is a psychiatrist and author of The Bonds We Share: Images of Humanity, 40 Years Around the Globe.
