Washing off more than Sins - Polluting the Ganges at the Kumbh Mela and inviting Diseases

Last week I started explaining why I am definitely not going to visit the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad which is in full swing there at the moment. Besides the obvious reason – that I am not religious and don’t believe in the benefits of going there – I mentioned the exploitation of children and the big business that is really going on there. There is however another very big factor that should not only keep non-believers like me from going there but should definitely concern the most faithful religious believer, too: the pollution of the river Ganges!

In Allahabad, the holy river Yamuna flows into the holy Ganges and from Allahabad on, only the Ganges flows on. For religious people this is a very holy place because the holy Yamuna and the holy Ganges mix and obviously create double holiness. Additionally there is the story with the nectar of immortality having dripped in Allahabad, so the river junction is just the perfect place for the biggest religious festival on earth.

The most important action for any visitor of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad is the dip in the Ganges. It is supposed to clean you from your sins. For them it is a holy bath, cleansing and refreshing. To me it looks like one of the dirtiest spots to wash yourself at! This place is most probably one of the most polluted places of both rivers! The Yamuna arrives there, bringing all the pollution and waste water of Delhi, Agra and other cities it has flown through! The Ganges itself is dirty, too, having come all the way down from the mountains! Do you really want to jump into this water full of industrial and human waste?

I know however that there is no way to stop blind religious believers from not only bathing in this polluted water but even drink a few sips. It is supposed to cleanse your sins away but they all are obviously ready to put up with allergies, skin diseases, stomach and digestion problems and maybe serious illnesses that they carry away from drinking water which is on a normal day already high above the regular pollution levels.

Well, if you want to do this to your body, I don’t think there is anybody who can keep you from making yourself ill. I do object to this ritualistic bathing however because it indirectly also affects me! How? Water tests before and after the big mass bathing on 14th January have shown that the pollution level was too high for drinking or bathing already before everybody jumped in but afterwards it had nearly doubled!

It is not very surprising – approximately eight million people have washed off not only their sins but along with it all their own dirt into the river! In the complete time of the Kumbh Mela, 100 million visitors are expected to bath in the river and additionally do their ceremonies, putting their religious garbage into it, too. You are heavily polluting the biggest river of our country! Yes, it does affect me and every other Indian, ultimately every other person on this earth!

Now authorities have released more water from further above so that the pollution gets spread on some more water and is not as intense at one place – they would probably not like to make international news because of a mass infection or a spreading disease among all festival visitors.

The conclusion is that this festival is not advisable to attend – it is spiritual nonsense, there is human exploitation, it is anyway just about business and it harms your health and the environment. Now you can think yourself what you would like to do!

BBC article on the Ganges pollution by the Kumbh Mela