tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/kumbh-mela-102689/articlesKumbh mela – The Conversation2021-05-10T16:02:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598982021-05-10T16:02:17Z2021-05-10T16:02:17ZIndians stepping up to try to save lives during COVID-19’s catastrophic second wave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399216/original/file-20210506-16-trj1l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2574%2C1713&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Relatives of a person who died of COVID-19 mourn outside a field hospital in Mumbai, India, on May 3, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world is watching in horror as the death count soars during India’s deadly second wave of COVID-19. Countless Indians are gasping for breath due to oxygen shortages across the country, but in the face of a colossal government failure to plan for and handle the crisis, it’s everyday Indians who are putting themselves at risk to save lives.</p>
<p>Each day, India is setting world records for the most number of cases, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-ongoing-covid-19-crisis-in-india-updates.html">reporting more than 400,000</a> alone on May 1. And as daily cases climb, experts believe there’s a huge discrepancy between the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/3/is-india-counting-every-covid-case-what-about-deaths">official count of deaths</a> and the actual number.</p>
<p>The current surge in the cases has brought the country to a state of chaos and fear. Thousands have lost family members, friends and acquaintances. <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/">As of May 10, more than 245,000 Indians have died</a> and there are more than 22 million active cases of COVID-19.</p>
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<img alt="Four people receive oxygen, three sitting in chairs and another lying on a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C675%2C4555%2C2345&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399074/original/file-20210505-13-106aq9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">COVID-19 patients receive oxygen outside a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, in Delhi on May 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Amit Sharma)</span></span>
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<p>Delhi, the capital city, is experiencing <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/just-before-2nd-covid-wave-hit-india-icu-beds-decreased-by-46-oxygen-ones-by-36-1796830-2021-05-03">an acute shortage of ICU beds</a> and oxygen. The situation continues to worsen as doctors fear the lack of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56940595">emergency oxygen supply</a> will lead to more deaths in the weeks ahead.</p>
<p>While big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata are overwhelmed by the rising cases, the situation in small towns is also increasingly grim. Smaller communities are struggling to acquire <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56913047">oxygen and life-saving drugs like remedesivir and tocilizumab.</a></p>
<p>The lack of available services, including ambulances and other critical medical services and supplies, have forced many to exhaust their <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56913047">financial resources</a> to get their families checked into private city hospitals. </p>
<h2>Modi criticized</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/30/modi-india-covid-19-pandemic-crisis-disaster/">declaring victory over COVID-19 in January</a>, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been on the receiving end of scathing criticism for holding election rallies that allowed thousands to gather and spread the virus. Almost <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/indias-catastrophic-second-wave-covid-why-it-matters-everywhere/">9.1 million people gathered in Haridwar in mid-April to participate in Kumbh Mela festivities</a>, the largest gathering of people in the world, after Modi refused to cancel it. </p>
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<img alt="Hindu men take dips in the Ganges River" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399071/original/file-20210505-21-19j3ald.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Men take dips in the Ganges River in Haridwar during Kumbh Mela, one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism, on April 12. Despite clear signs that India was being swamped by another surge of COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to cancel the festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Karma Sonam)</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/indias-virus-surge-damages-modis-image-competence-77498676">Critics have pointed out</a> that the prime minister had a full year to prepare for the second wave, and say the government’s failure to take preventive action in restricting superspreader events has played a major role in the catastrophic second wave. </p>
<p>Modi’s government has also been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/26/twitter-india-coronavirus/">accused of silencing</a> and <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/siddharth-says-he-and-his-family-members-got-death-and-rape-threats-bjp-denies-actors-charges/articleshow/82308650.cms">harassing critics</a> about his handling of the pandemic. Nonetheless, graphic images of open spaces being turned into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/india-covid-crematorium.html">mass crematoriums are at odds with the government’s downplaying</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A worker sprinkles fuel on burning funeral pyres" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399064/original/file-20210505-21-1wmkh42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worker sprinkles fuel on burning funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims at an open crematorium set up on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, on May 5.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In Uttar Pradesh, <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/993484/up-fir-filed-against-man-who-sought-twitter-help-for-oxygen-for-grandfather">the police laid criminal charges against a young man</a> for seeking out help on Twitter, requesting an oxygen cylinder for his grandfather. </p>
<h2>Citizens provide leads</h2>
<p>In the face of the goverment’s intimidation tactics and the lack of a comprehensive plan to save lives and contain the spread, it’s Indian citizens who are on the front lines and taking matters into their own hands to help.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/28/1023983/india-covid-crowdsourcing/">Some have come together to provide verified leads</a> on oxygen supplies, hospital beds and plasma donors. Some are leaving their homes to assist the most vulnerable. Volunteer groups like <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/corona-wave-covid-volunteers-sos-shortage-oxygen-remdesivir-hospital-bed-help-1796702-2021-04-30">Citizens’ Aid Collective and Covid Fighters India</a> are working on the ground to save lives. </p>
<p>Volunteers have created Twitter and Whatsapp bots to provide their fellow citizens with information on emergency medical resources. <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2021/05/10459586/india-support-covid-instagram">Some Indian women are taking to Instagram</a> to get the word out for those seeking help or needing support, <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/india/is-this-how-we-treat-our-covid-19-soldiers-medics-across-india-battle-neglect-harassment-rape-threats-2562473.html">despite receiving rape threats and abusive messages</a> as they work tirelessly to verify leads.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dggy/we-spoke-to-a-cremator-at-the-center-of-indias-covid-hell">Crematorium workers</a> — most of them marginalized caste — are working round the clock <a href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2021/04/why-are-we-not-talking-about-mental-health-and-safety-of-crematorium-workers/">without any personal protective equipment </a>, compromising their health and safety. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/covid-19-second-wave-heres-a-list-of-states-that-have-imposed-lockdowns-7306634/">new set of lockdowns declared by state governments</a> will only add to the vulnerability of the working poor, including migrant labourers, since they’re now left without any source of income.</p>
<h2>What to do now?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-scientists-say-india-government-ignored-warnings-amid-coronavirus-2021-05-01/">Scientists have criticized Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)</a> for ignoring the warnings about the new and more contagious variants of the virus.</p>
<p>Despite early alarm bells, the government failed to make serious policy changes to implement restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the disease. The government has also failed to implement broad relief measures for the working classes and the marginalized communities that are worst hit by the pandemic. </p>
<p>Instead, institutes like <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/from-labs-to-hospitals-iit-delhi-gives-110-oxygen-cylinders-to-delhi-govt-11619961803544.html">IIT Delhi and Jadavpur University</a> are transferring empty oxygen cylinders from labs to hospitals. Final-year <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/coronavirus-medical-interns-to-be-deployed-in-covid-management-duties-says-pmo-2427134">medical students and interns</a> are also now helping treat patients. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People wait in line to refill oxygen cylinders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399069/original/file-20210505-19-1u3r1ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family members of COVID-19 patients wait in queue to refill their oxygen cylinders in New Delhi, India, on May 3.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Ishant Chauhan)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>While media attention has been focused on the devastating conditions of Indian cities, less is known about the situation in rural India. In addition to being economically marginalized, many rural Indians live in abject poverty, don’t have access to the internet and cannot get information about lifesaving emergency and medical resources. </p>
<p>Adding to the distress, public figures and avid supporters of the BJP, like yoga guru Baba Ramdev and actress Kangagna Ranaut, have made callous remarks. In a viral video, <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/in-video-ramdev-mocks-covid-victims-for-not-breathing-proper-249940">Ramdev stated that COVID-19 victims are responsible for their own condition by not breathing properly</a>, while in a Instagram post, <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/kangana-ranaut-covid-positive-writes-small-time-flu-which-got-too-much-press-2437600">Kangana Ranaut called the pandemic that has claimed millions of lives globally “a small-time flu.”</a></p>
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<img alt="Kangana Ranaut poses at a fashion show." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399785/original/file-20210510-23-1nkngbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kangana Ranaut displays a creation of Indian designer Anju Modi during India Couture Week in Delhi, India, in July 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)</span></span>
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<p>Ranaut also said in an earlier <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/kangana-ranaut-now-active-on-instagram-says-india-does-not-need-more-oxygen-it-needs-dharma-101620439754355.html">Instagram post</a> that Indians don’t need more oxygen — they need more religion.</p>
<p>This despite the fact that citizens are seeing daily, graphic images of people trying to save their loved ones, including a <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amid-cries-for-oxygen-agra-womans-desperate-cpr-attempt-on-husband-2423053">woman in Agra giving her husband CPR outside the hospital. </a></p>
<p>The ongoing disaster raging in India has served to expose even further the appalling, and deadly, class divisions in the country. <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/pressure-rises-for-india-lockdown-covid-19-surge-breaks-record-again-1.5417950">By leaving the responsibility for fighting the virus to poorly equipped state governments</a>, Modi has put those most at risk in even more danger and forced citizens to mobilize to save lives. </p>
<p>This dual health and humanitarian crisis can only be addressed with a planned vaccination drive and medical assistance for every Indian in every region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159898/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deeplina Banerjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India is in the grips of a health and humanitarian catastrophe, in stark contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s declaration of readiness to fight the pandemic.Deeplina Banerjee, PhD Student, Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1600762021-05-04T12:17:12Z2021-05-04T12:17:12ZIndians are forced to change rituals for their dead as COVID-19 rages through cities and villages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398447/original/file-20210503-21-1jco2wf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3288%2C2169&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mass cremations in the city of Bengaluru, India, due to the large number of COVID-19 deaths.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/men-wearing-ppe-perform-the-last-rites-of-a-deceased-news-photo/1315456370?adppopup=true">Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past several weeks, the world has looked on in horror <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-deaths.html">as the coronavirus rages across India</a>. With <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-pandemic-record-coronavirus-oxygen/2021/04/24/3afea474-a4f3-11eb-b314-2e993bd83e31_story.html">hospitals running out of beds, oxygen and medicines</a>, the official daily death toll has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/01/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases">averaged around 3,000</a>. Many <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/04/30/992451165/india-is-counting-thousands-of-daily-covid-deaths-how-many-is-it-missing">claim that number</a> could be an undercount; crematoriums and cemeteries have run out of space.</p>
<p>The majority of India’s population are Hindu, who favor cremation as a way of disposing of the body. But <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/">the Muslim population, which is close to 15%,</a> <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/muhammads-grave/9780231137423">favors burying its dead</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A worker digging a cemetery in Guwahati, India." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers digging as they prepare to bury the body of a person who died of COVID-19 in Guwahati, Assam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-digging-as-they-are-prepare-to-bury-a-body-of-a-news-photo/1232595392?adppopup=true">David Talukdar/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Generally, tradition holds that the body is to be cremated or buried as quickly as possible – within <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Death-and-Religion-in-a-Changing-World/Garces-Foley/p/book/9780765612229">24 hours for Hindus, Jains and Muslims, and within three days for Sikhs</a>. This need for rapid disposal has also contributed to the current crisis.</p>
<p>Hundreds of families want their loved ones’ bodies cared for as quickly as possible, but there is a shortage of people who can do the funerals and last rites. This has led to a situation where people are <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/covid-narendra-modi-pits-smashan-against-kabristan-in-polarising-elections-speech-in-uttar-pradesh/cid/1813065">paying bribes</a> in order to get space or a furnace for cremation. There are also reports of <a href="https://qz.com/india/1824866/indian-doctors-fighting-coronavirus-now-face-social-stigma/">physical fights, and intimidation</a>. </p>
<p>As a scholar interested in the ways Asian societies tell stories about the afterlife and prepare the <a href="https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1922200">deceased for it</a>, I argue that the coronavirus crisis represents an unprecedented cultural cataclysm that has forced the Indian culture to challenge the way it handles its dead. </p>
<h2>Cremation grounds and colonial rule</h2>
<p>Many Americans think of cremation happening within an enclosed, mechanized structure, but most Indian crematoriums, known as “shmashana” in Hindi, are open-air spaces with dozens of brick-and-mortar platforms upon which a body can be burned on a pyre made of wood. </p>
<p>Hindus and Sikhs will dispose of the remaining ashes <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/hinduism-today-9781441138200/">in a river</a>. Many shmashana are therefore built near the banks of a river to allow for easy access, but many well-off families often travel to a sacred city along the banks of the river Ganges, such as Hardiwar or Benares, for the final rituals. Jains – who have traditionally given significant consideration to humanity’s impact <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P86357M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">on the environmental world</a> – bury the ashes as a means to return the body to the Earth and ensure they do not contribute to polluting rivers.</p>
<p>The workers who run shmashana often belong to the Dom ethnicity and have been doing this work for generations; they are lower caste and subsequently perceived as polluted for their intimate <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nomads-India-Proceedings-National-Seminar/dp/B0042LSNH0">work with dead bodies</a>.</p>
<p>The act of cremation has not always been without controversy. In the 19th century, British colonial officials viewed the Indian practice of cremation as barbaric and unhygienic. But they <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520379343/burning-the-dead">were unable to ban it</a> given its pervasiveness. </p>
<p>However, Indians living in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/sep/05/law.religion">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557415">South Africa</a> and <a href="https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=jhcs">Trinidad</a> often had to fight for the right to cremate the dead in accordance with religious rituals because of the mistaken and often racist belief that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/sep/05/law.religion">cremation was primitive, alien and evironmentally polluting</a>. </p>
<h2>Rituals and a long history</h2>
<p>The earliest writings on Indian funerary rituals can be found in the Rig Veda – a Hindu religious scripture orally composed thousands of years ago, potentially as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rigveda-9780199370184?cc=us&lang=en&">early as 2000 B.C.</a> In the Rig Veda, a hymn, traditionally recited by a priest or an adult male, urges Agni, the Vedic god of fire, to “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Textual_Sources_for_the_Study_of_Hinduis.html?id=YxoaUKmMG9gC">carry this man to the world of those who have done good deeds</a>.” </p>
<p>From the perspective of Hindu, Jain, and Sikh rituals, the act of cremation is <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Many_Colors_of_Hinduism.html?id=RVWKClYq4TUC">seen as a sacrifice</a>, a final breaking of the ties between the body and the spirit so it may be free to reincarnate. The body is traditionally bathed, anointed, and carefully wrapped in white cloth at home, then carried ceremonially, in a procession, by the local community to the cremation grounds. </p>
<p>While Hindus and Sikhs often decorate the body with flowers, Jains avoid natural flowers for concern of inadvertently destroying the lives of insects that may be hidden within its petals. In all of these faiths, a priest or male member of the family recites prayers. It is traditionally the eldest son of the deceased who lights the funerary pyre; women do not go to the <a href="https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/why-women-are-not-allowed-at-shamshan-ghat-55126.html">cremation ground</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Relatives gather around the body of a man who died of COVID-19 in India, to perform religious rituals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family members perform rituals at a crematorium for a person who died of the coronavirus in India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/family-members-and-relatives-perform-rituals-before-the-news-photo/1232622320?adppopup=true">Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the ceremony, mourners return home to bathe themselves and remove what they regard as the inauspicious energy that surrounds the cremation grounds. Communities host a variety of postmortem rituals, including scriptural recitations and symbolic meals, and in some Hindu communities the sons or male members of household will shave their head as a sign of their bereavement. During this mourning period, lasting from 10 to 13 days, the family performs scriptural recitations and prayers in honor of their deceased loved one. </p>
<h2>The changing times of COVID-19</h2>
<p>The wave of death from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced transformations to these long-established religious rituals. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-delhi-pyres-public-parks-b1838649.html">Makeshift crematoriums are being constructed</a> in the parking lots of hospitals and in city parks.</p>
<p>Young women may be the only ones available to light the funerary pyre, which was previously not permissible. Families in quarantine are forced to use WhatsApp and other video software to visually identify the body and recite digital <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/india-covid-crematorium.html">funerary rites</a>. </p>
<p>Media reports have pointed out how in some cases, crematorium workers <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dggy/we-spoke-to-a-cremator-at-the-center-of-indias-covid-hell">have been asked to read prayers</a> traditionally reserved for Brahmin priests or people from a higher caste. Muslim burial grounds have begun to run out of space and are tearing up parking lots to bury more bodies. </p>
<h2>The work of the dead</h2>
<p>While other important rituals such as marriage and baptism may take on a new appearance in response to cultural changes, social media conversations or economic opportunities, funerary rituals <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183559.001.0001/acprof-9780195183559">change slowly</a>. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="https://history.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/emeritus/thomas-w-laqueur">Thomas Laqueur</a> has written on what he calls “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691157788/the-work-of-the-dead">the work of the dead</a>” – the ways in which the bodies of the deceased participate in the social worlds and political realities of the living. </p>
<p>In India’s coronavirus pandemic, the dead are announcing the health crisis that the country believed it had conquered. As recently as April 18, 2021, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-modi-scorned-over-reckless-rallies-religious-gathering-amid-virus-mayhem-2021-04-19/">holding crowded political rallies</a>, and his government allowed the massive Hindu pilgrimage festival of <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-prepares-for-kumbh-mela-worlds-largest-religious-gathering-amid-covid-19-fears-158364">Kumbh Mela</a> to proceed a year early in response to the <a href="https://science.thewire.in/health/leaders-listened-to-astrologers-so-haridwar-mela-happened-after-11-years-not-12/">auspicious forecasts of astrologers</a>. Authorities began to act only when the deaths became impossible to ignore. But even then, the Indian government appeared more concerned about <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991343032/indias-government-is-telling-facebook-twitter-to-remove-critical-posts">removing social media posts that were critical of its functioning</a>.</p>
<p>India is one of the world’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/18/978065736/indias-role-in-covid-19-vaccine-production-is-getting-even-bigger">largest vaccine-producing nations</a>, and yet it was unable to make or even purchase the needed vaccines to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/world/asia/india-covid-vaccine-astrazeneca.html">protect its population</a>. </p>
<p>The dead have important stories to tell about neglect, mismanagement or even our global interdependence – if we care to listen.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Mikles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As cremation grounds struggle to keep up with the long line of people dying from COVID-19, age-old customs are being pushed aside.Natasha Mikles, Lecturer in Philosophy, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583642021-04-08T12:04:31Z2021-04-08T12:04:31ZIndia prepares for Kumbh Mela, world’s largest religious gathering, amid COVID-19 fears<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393872/original/file-20210407-17-1gpfykb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C18%2C5990%2C3921&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hindu devotees attend evening prayers on the banks of the Ganges River during the religious Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hindu-devotees-attend-evening-prayers-after-taking-a-holy-news-photo/1231647366?adppopup=true">Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Massive crowds are expected to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/14/india-holds-massive-kumbh-mela-pilgrimage-amid-covid-worries">gather at India’s northern city of Haridwar</a> throughout April 2021 for the religious festival of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</a>, despite the country’s <a href="https://science.thewire.in/health/india-faces-health-challenge-as-millions-set-to-gather-at-kumbh-festival/">grappling with a COVID-19 surge</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.kumbhamela.net/">Kumbh Mela</a> is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520249141/the-life-of-hinduism">sacred tirthas</a>, or river-ford sites, along the Ganges River in India. </p>
<p>This year the government expects over <a href="https://zeenews.india.com/photos/india/kumbh-live-photos-check-latest-photos-from-haridwar-maha-kumbh-2021-2351956">a million pilgrims a day</a> to bathe in the sacred river. Over 5 million people are expected per day on the most auspicious days – April 12, 14 and 21 – for a total of a 100 million celebrants. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/tulasi-srinivas">scholar of Hinduism</a>, I celebrate this peaceful mammoth congregation of humanity. Shaped by mythology, astrology and society over the long course of history, this festival is the largest religious gathering of its kind in the world. </p>
<p>Rooted in Hinduism’s ancient theological texts, the bathing ritual has survived wars, revolution and famine – but its biggest threat has been epidemic diseases. Authorities from the colonial British government of the 19th century to the Indian government today have had to contend with the challenge of managing the spread of contagion during this huge gathering of people. </p>
<h2>Festival of immortality</h2>
<p>The festival celebrates the Hindu myth of <a href="https://www.hinduwebsite.com/churning.asp">Samudra manthan</a> – the churning of the cosmological ocean by the gods and demons to get the nectar of immortality, known as amrita. </p>
<p>In the fight that ensued for the amrita, several drops of the elixir fell to Earth, sanctifying the waters where they landed. The word Kumbh refers not only <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/banaras/9780231114479">to the pot of nectar spilled on its way to the heavens</a>, but also to the astrological sign of Aquarius, the water carrier, the time when the Kumbh Mela takes place. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred Ganges on the auspicious days of the festival leads to salvation from the endless cycle of reincarnation.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/makar-sankranti-2020-date-history-importance-and-significance-of-makar-sankranti-festival-6210114/">traditional start date of the Kumbh</a>, Makara Sankranti, or the winter solstice, is in January. However, this year the festival was delayed by the Indian government because of fears of the spread of COVID-19. </p>
<h2>Colonial Kumbh</h2>
<p>The festival is mentioned in British colonial records. In 1812 the archives of <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-East-India-Company/">the British East India Co.</a>, a joint stock company that had been formed in 1600 to engage in trade with India, mention a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NeM-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q&f=false">“great” congregation of people at the “melah” that had not occurred in 28 years</a>. Historians of religion have noted that the British conflated another ancient fair, which went <a href="https://www.academia.edu/323796/Making_the_Colonial_State_Work_for_You_The_Modern_Beginnings_of_the_Ancient_Kumbh_Mela_In_Allahabad">by the name Magha Mela, with the Kumbh Mela</a>.</p>
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders">the East India Co.</a> imposed a “pilgrim tax” on participants, even though it did not provide infrastructure or amenities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white sketch shows people gathering on a grand river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The scene of Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, India, in 1850.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haridwar_Kumbh_Mela_-_1850s.jpg">J. M. W. Turner via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The East India Co. ruled India for the British Crown from 1757, and the company-crown alliance lasted a century until <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/indian_rebellion_01.shtml">the Indian rebellion</a> of 1857. During that time the British administration, in collaboration with the local police and heads of pilgrim organizations, made attempts to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HznRCwAAQBAJ">improve the infrastructure</a> of the Kumbh Mela, including laying new railway lines, widening the access roads and building bigger bathing platforms, or ghats. They hoped to increase access, prevent pilgrim stampedes near the waters edge and garner better revenue. </p>
<p>Inadvertently, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">British helped legitimize and popularize the Kumbh Mela as the supreme sacred festival</a>. At the same time, they believed the Kumbh was a political gathering where <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/with-kumbh-mela-back-at-its-original-site-in-haridwar-a-look-at-how-this-recent-pilgrimage-always-has-a-political-undercurrent-7262923/">revolutionary and nationalistic ideas took birth</a>.</p>
<h2>Politics of Kumbh</h2>
<p>Until 1801, before the colonial rule in the state, the Kumbh Mela was controlled and managed by sects, or “akharas,” of <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195338942.001.0001">militant ascetics</a> who fought for the privilege of bathing first, as going first conferred power and status. These were often violent battles of alarming scale in which thousands died.</p>
<p>But the akharas skillfully managed the logistical challenge of the massive pilgrimage and festival. They organized hostels and food, provided policing, and oversaw the arbitrating of disputes over congregant living facilities. They also instituted and collected pilgrim taxes. The ascetics of the akharas engaged in <a href="http://www.kumbhmelatour.com/sadhu-rituals.html">religious discourses and philosophical lectures</a>. Their presence was an attraction for ordinary pilgrims who sought their audience and blessings. </p>
<p>But by 1858 the British Crown controlled all of India and attempted to take over the logistics and rules for the Kumbh Mela, particularly for pilgrims’ movement at the site, to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-ktHKWRR5xAC&pg=PT68#v=onepage&q&f=false">avoid stampedes and upgrade the sanitary conditions</a>. At the time <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/with-kumbh-mela-back-at-its-original-site-in-haridwar-a-look-at-how-this-recent-pilgrimage-always-has-a-political-undercurrent-7262923/">legal agreements over the bathing order</a> ensured an end to the violence between the akharas.</p>
<p>The British allowed and instituted an order for <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/kumbh-mela-shahi-snan-begins-in-prayagraj/various-akharas/slideshow/67539585.cms">the ascetics of 14 akharas</a> to bathe on the three auspicious bathing days of the mela. Following Indian independence, subsequent Indian governments have also tried to control the crowds and organize the akharas’ bathing schedule.</p>
<h2>Fear of contagion</h2>
<p>The first British reference that specifically mentioned the Kumbh Mela was made in an 1868 report that stated the need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">increased and tighter sanitation controls at the “Coomb fair</a>” to be held in January 1870. Recognizing the threat of rapid spread of contagion among the crowds, the British government attempted to <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/381707">sanitize and control </a> the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the Kumbh.</p>
<p>In 1870 <a href="https://www.dailypioneer.com/pages/about-us">the Pioneer newspaper</a>, the voice of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1936/04/the-young-kipling/306598/">British in the northern city of Allahabad</a>, said that the control of crowding was seen as a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">well-directed activity towards averting, or at any rate mitigating, the ravages of disease</a>” among pilgrims. The spread of disease was viewed as a threat to the possible collection of taxes and governance. </p>
<p>Between 1892 and 1908, when major famines, cholera and plague epidemics struck in British India, the <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1336846.pdf">colonial government controlled entry to the Kumbh</a>, citing hygiene concerns. Pilgrims dropped to a low of around 300,000 <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195338942.001.0001/acprof-9780195338942">as reported by the Imperial Gazetteer</a>. In 1941, the British government <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/british-scrapped-magh-mela-in-1942/articleshow/50575926.cms">banned sale of tickets</a> amid rumors that Japan, in advance to entering World War II, was to bomb Allahabad where the Kumbh was slated to take place. </p>
<h2>Rising religiosity</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C2454%2C1616&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men are shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the water. Most are naked from the waist up. Many wear flowers and orange clothing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C2454%2C1616&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ascetics take a holy dip in the waters of the Ganges River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/naga-sadhus-take-a-holy-dip-in-the-waters-of-the-river-news-photo/1231641535?adppopup=true">Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the past century the Kumbh has become so popular that “half” versions – Ardh Kumbh – are held every six years. </p>
<p>The dramatic arrival of the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MALacgnsroMC&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false">akharas</a> – <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-famous-akhadas-at-kumbh-mela/story-x5TCnQW9n51cwXkkR4lfJJ.html">that includes 14 sects of Hindu and Sikh ascetics as well as warrior monks</a> often illustrated with exoticized photographs – has become the signature visual of the Kumbh. </p>
<p>These tens of thousands of ascetics, some dressed in saffron robes, some nude and covered in ash, with wild dreadlocks, come riding <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2010/jan/30/sadhus-astride-elephants-horses-at-maha-kumbh-165762.html">on horseback</a>, or in golden seats on elephants. The processions are accompanied by loud drumming, conch blowing and the sound of gongs as they enter the sacred water, in wave upon wave of humanity. </p>
<h2>COVID controls</h2>
<p>This year’s event takes place amid fears that a massive gathering like this could turn out to be a COVID-19 superspreader event. According to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/india">Johns Hopkins University</a>, by April 1, 2021, the start of the Kumbh Mela, India had reported 12 million cases and 162,900 deaths. </p>
<p>The Indian government has issued several directives to <a href="https://www.india.com/news/india/haridwar-kumbh-mela-2021-dates-covid-protocol-guidelines-shahi-snan-order-all-details-here-4481213/">control the spread of the disease</a>: Thermal screening checkpoints have been set up, and efforts are being made to sanitize all restrooms and sleeping quarters. <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/kumbh-mela-centre-warns-of-covid-surge-asks-state-govt-to-impose-strict-curbs-11616330231370.html">Strict protocols for participation</a> in the Kumbh have been issued, including a <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/travel-tourism/kumbh-mela-2021-mandatory-masks-maximum-20-minutes-of-bath-heres-what-covid-19-protocol-states/2209339/">limited time period of half an hour for each akhara to bathe</a>. Furthermore, the government has stated that after April 1 all visitors to the Kumbh have to <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kumbh-mela-2021-pilgrims-must-show-covid-19-negative-report-in-haridwar-2399067">produce evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test</a>. </p>
<p>However, even before the Kumbh began, the city and neighboring areas had already emerged as <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/rishikesh-and-haridwar-emerge-as-covid-19-hotspots-ahead-of-kumbh-mela-2021-6712651.html">COVID-19 hot spots</a>. As the festival began, <a href="https://zeenews.india.com/india/coronavirus-at-kumbh-mela-2021-around-300-covid-19-cases-reported-from-haridwar-in-last-4-days-2352472.html">seven living Hindu saints</a> in the city of Haridwar tested positive, and 300 pilgrims were found positive during the first few days of the festival. </p>
<p>Images emerging from Haridwar of millions of the faithful, praying, eating and bathing, often maskless and in close proximity with one another, are <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/kumbh-mela-raising-the-spectre-of-covid-superspreaders/the-spectre-of-a-covid-superspreader/slideshow/81665575.cms">raising fears</a> about how the desire for the divine nectar of immortality might turn out in a pandemic year.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tulasi Srinivas received funding from The Luce Foundation and The American Council of Learned Societies, as well as the American Institute of Indian Studies.</span></em></p>Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage that started earlier this month in India, has survived wars and famine since its origin. But the biggest threat has been the spread of illness – back then as now.Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.