Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the the Great Indian Bathing Festival, the Urn Festival, the Pitcher Festival and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar) festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
Two traditions are in circulation regarding the origin and timing of the festival: one that stems from ancient texts known as the Puranas, and the other that connects it with astrological considerations. According to the Puranic epic, the gods and demons had churned the milky ocean at the beginning of time in order to gather various divine treasures including a jar containing a potion of immortality - Ambrosia. As the jar emerged from the ocean the gods and demons began a terrific battle for its possession. During the battle, which according to one legend the gods won by trickery, four drops of the precious potion fell to earth, when Jayantha (Jayanth) the son of the chief deity Indra carried the jar (Kumbha/kumbh) that held the ambrosia in the form of a giant bird - these places became the sites of the four Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals, according to another legend he ran away with the jar and hid them on twelve locations on earth where few drops of ambrosia fell, four of these places are known and identified as the four sites for the Kumbh (Kumbh) Mela, the other eight locations are being researched by our team
The astrological tradition (ascribed to a lost Puranic text and not traceable in extant editions) seems to stem from a very ancient festival called the Kumbha Parva, which occurred at Hardwar every twelfth year when Jupiter was in Aquarius (the Indian name being Kumbha/Kumbh) and the sun entered Aries
At some later time the term 'Kumbha (Kumbh)' was prefixed to the Melas held at Prayaga, Ujjain, and Nasik and these four sites became identified with the four mythical locations of the immortality potion - Ambrosia. In theory the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals are supposed to occur every three years, rotating between the four cities. In practice the four-city cycle may actually take eleven or thirteen years and this because of the difficulties and controversies in calculating the astrological conjunctions. Furthermore the interval between the Kumbha Mela at Nasik and that at Ujjain is not of three years; they are celebrated the same year or only a year apart. This deviation in practice is intriguing and cannot be fully explained by either astrological or mythological means.
kalpavasi.com
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
Mark Grain, Assistant Race Team Chief Mechanic, takes us through his race weekend at the German GP in the form of a 3-part video diary. In fact, the Nurburgring race turned out to be a pivotal weekend in making the MP4-24 competitive.
The Times of India “A Day in the Life of Chennai” advertisement won the historic first Cannes Golden Lion for a film from India. It was produced by Good Morning films (www.goodmorningfilms.com)
The main crew that set out to shoot this film was not unlike a task force from the UN. UP-ite, Bengali, Punjabi, Parsi, Malayalee, Hyderabadi, Englishman from Australia and Germany and of course Tamilians of Chennai all comprised the backgrounds of the chief technicians of this film.
Jason West (of “Rock on” fame) was entrusted with shooting the Times Of India film and the music was produced by Vijay Anthony and sung by the renowned female folk singer Chinnaponnu.
The location used was Kasimedu - Chennai’s Dharavi, Dongri and Kamatipura all rolled into one. Surprisingly this underbelly of Chennai proved to be not only the most exciting but also the most cooperative and accommodating for our shoot.
The cutouts from the ad ranged from 12 to 50 feet! With the monstrous size of 50 feet also came the nightmarish logistics that were minor issues compared to the fact that all cut outs (except those of the ruling party) were banned from being put up in the city of Chennai! Some swift maneuvering so in some cases, we had to just had to sneak in, get our shots and get out without disrupting normal activity and attract unwanted attention!
The official permission letter for shooting on the various public locations across Chennai reached us only on Day 2 of the shoot and that too with allotted time slots which were the complete opposite of what was requested in the shooting plan submitted to the cops!
Brilliant maneuvering by the production team and some kamikaze shooting techniques adapted by director Bob and DOP Jason resulted in some of the memorable shots and moments of the film.
