Dates at the Sangam

The Mela is set by the sky, not by the calendar, so its dates move from year to year and are fixed only as the event draws near. This page holds the turn of the years as I understand it, and I update it as the councils confirm the days.

The twelve days and the twelve years

In the myth, Jayanta carries the pot of nectar for twelve days as he flies to paradise, and twelve days for the gods is twelve years for us. That is the cycle you stand inside when you come to the mela. The great gathering returns to the same confluence once in twelve years because the timing follows Jupiter, the planet the old texts call Brihaspati, which takes about twelve years to travel once around the sky. When Jupiter reaches its appointed place, and the Sun and the Moon fall into their positions with it, the Mela is called. At the Sangam the Maha Kumbh comes when Jupiter stands in Taurus and the Sun enters Capricorn, in the month of Magh.

The four cities

The Kumbh does not belong to one place alone. It moves between four, each on its own holy river. There is the Sangam here, where the Ganges and the Jamuna meet the unseen Saraswati. There is Hardwar, where the Ganges leaves the mountains. There is Trimbakeshwar, near Nasik, on the Godavari. And there is Ujjain, on the Shipra. A Kumbh falls at one of the four about every three years, so each city keeps its own twelve year turn, and each is set by its own alignment of the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter, which is why the four never share a single date.

The names of this place

The town at the confluence has carried three names, and they are all the same place. The oldest is Prayag, the name in the Vedas, from a time several thousand years ago, and it means the place of offering, where the first sacrifice was made. The Mughal emperor Akbar built his fort at the meeting of the rivers and called the city Allahabad, and that name stood for four hundred years. In 2018 the city was given back its old name, and it is Prayagraj now. Prayag, Allahabad, Prayagraj, one town, one Sangam, the same drops of nectar that fell here in the story.

The Magh Mela, every year

Every January the same sand fills again for the Magh Mela, the small fair that comes each year in the month of Magh, from the middle of January to the middle of February. It is the whole mela at a scale you can take in, and it is the one I would send anyone to first. There is a page of its own for how to attend one.

The Ardh and the Maha

The Ardh, or half, Kumbh comes near the midpoint of the twelve years, and at the Sangam the next one falls in 2031. The Maha Kumbh, the great one, comes once in twelve years here, and the next is in January 2037.

Magh Mela	every January
Ardh Kumbh	2031
Maha Kumbh	January 2037

Confirmed by the akhara councils closer to the event.

The days are not fixed yet

For the coming melas the bathing days have not been announced. The astrologers set them closer to the event, and I add them here as they are confirmed. To show you the shape of it, these are the bathing days from the Kumbh of 2001, the one I was at. A future mela keeps the same festival days, on whatever dates they land.

The main bathing days, Kumbh 2001

Paush Purnima	9 January 2001, Tuesday
Makar Sankranti	14 January 2001, Sunday
Mauni Amavasya	24 January 2001, Wednesday, the main day
Basant Panchami	29 January 2001, Monday
Magh Purnima	8 February 2001, Thursday
Mahashivratri	21 February 2001, Wednesday

It was incredible… I would suggest being there next time, in 12 years, or just next year at the Magh Mela.

Recommended visiting days, if your time is limited

Tent, food, and camp plans need to be booked ahead.

Four weeks	6 January to 3 February	28 days
Three weeks	6 January to 27 January	21 days
Two weeks	13 January to 27 January	14 days
One week	20 January to 27 January	7 days
Other options	6 January to 10 February	35 days

The exact dates are set by the alignment of the planets, and Vedic astrologers fix them closer to the event. I update this page as they are confirmed.