About this stamp
The Festival of the Sacred Pitcher
India Post issued this ₹5 stamp on 2 February 2019 for the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj. The Kumbh is held four times over twelve years at Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik and Prayag, and over about 48 days it draws tens of millions of pilgrims, from ascetics and sadhus to kalpvasis and ordinary families. At Prayagraj they bathe at the confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Sarasvati.
The Story Behind It
The name comes from kumbh, the pitcher of amrit, the nectar of immortality, churned from the ocean in the Samudra Manthan. In the story told in the Puranas, Vishnu, disguised as Mohini, carried the pitcher away from the demons, and drops of nectar fell at the four sites. The pursuit lasted twelve divine days, equal to twelve human years, which is why the festival returns to each site every twelve years. The timing at each site is set by the positions of the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter.
History and Scale
The festival became widely known under King Harshavardhana (c. 590–647 CE); the traveller Xuanzang described the king giving away his possessions at Prayag. Its rituals include the Peshwai procession of the akharas and the Shahi Snan of the Naga sadhus. India Post records an estimated 120 million visitors at the 2013 Kumbh in Prayagraj, over 30 million of them on 10 February 2013, Mauni Amavasya. The Kumbh Mela is on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; Uttar Pradesh presented the 2019 Mela as “Divya Kumbh, Bhavya Kumbh”.
On the Stamp
The stamp shows pilgrims bathing in the river at Prayagraj, with boats and a bridge behind them; the first day cover shows the Samudra Manthan. Stamp, first day cover, brochure and cancellation were designed by Kamleshwar Singh, and 610,190 stamps were printed by wet offset at the Security Printing Press, Hyderabad.
For More Information
Read more here:
