Gangasagar Mela

Gangasagar Mela is the second largest Hindu fair (after Kumbh Mela). Many people from different states of India come here every year to take a holy bath on Makar Sankranti day.

In 2024, Renowned Bengali Newspaper Aajkaal Quoted about 1.10 crore devotees gathered in the mela.

History

Hindu scriptures

The Gangasagar is mentioned in the Mahabharata's Vana Parva, which provides proof of the existence of the pilgrimage site in 1500–2000 BC. According to the Mahabharata, the Pandavas traveled from the banks of the river Kaushik and reached the Gangesagarasangam, Confluence of Ganges and Sagara (Sea). According to Hinduism, the "Gangasagarasangam" mentioned in the Mahabharata is Gangasagar in Sagardwip, situated at the estuary of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly rivers – one of the two main branches of the Ganges– on the sea coast of West Bengal.

Legend has it that Kapilmuni, the progenitor of Samkhya philosophy, had an ashram at Gangasagara. Sixty thousand sons of Sagara King were consumed by Kapilmuni's wrath and their Ātmans (souls) were thrown into Naraka (hell). Bhagiratha, the grandson of the Sagara king, brought the Ganga from Svarga (heaven) to wash the remains of the Sagara's sons and free their Ātmans (souls).

Ancient times

The Gangasagar pilgrimage is also mentioned in Raghuvaṃśa, a Sanskrit epic poem written by the great poet Kalidasa in the fifth century AD. There is disagreement over the exact age of Kapil Muni's ashram. The temple of Kapil Muni is mentioned in the 16th century ancient Puthi Tirthaattvapradayini (Bengali: তীর্থতত্ত্বপ্রদায়িনী). An article about the Gangasagar Mela was printed on February 4, 1837, in the once popular Bengali newspaper Harkara (Bengali: হরকরা). It is written, "The one temple in this place (Sagar Dwip) has been known to people for 1400 years. In this temple there is established a Siddhapurusha named Kapil Muni.

Also, King Devapala of the Pala dynasty mentions in an inscription that he performed rituals at the confluence of the Gangasagar.

Middle Ages

During medieval times, pilgrims from every corner of the subcontinent defied many obstacles and dangers to reach Gangasagar on Makar Sankranti, namely attacks from the Bengal tiger inhabiting the mangrove forests, presence of the gharial in the waters & piracy activities of the Mog sponsored by the kingdom of Arakan & later the Portuguese. Enroute along the riverine course of the Adi Ganga was the small hamlet of Mograhat, named so because of the presence of a slave market operated by the Mog people, where captured Hindu pilgrims would be sold. During the perilous journey, the pilgrims faced diseases like cholera and small pox. Due to the danger and death faced by the pilgrims the Bengali phrase originated — saba tīrtha bāra bāra, gaṅgāsāgara ēkabāra ("Go to all tirthas again & again, but Gangasagar only once in life").

Modern era

In the year 1819, Warren Hastings cleared the northern parts of the island in order to resettle 500 Rohingya families fleeing persecution following the Konbaung dynasty's conquest of Arakan, who would cultivate crops in the cleared land. Shortly after this, the shrine of Kapilmuni situated at the south end of the island came under possession of Ramanandi sadhus from Ayodhya with the help of a local zamindar. Kapalkundala, a Bengali novel written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, depicts a perilous journey to reach the Gangasagar. In 1891, the festivities became the a hotspot for the 5th cholera pandemic. In 1914 AD, a man named Wilson mentions the temple of Kapilmuni in the District Gazetteer. According to the person's writings, Kapilmuni's temple was temporary structure surrounded by a bamboo fence. In front of the temple was a huge banyan tree, under which were murtis (idols) of Rama and Hanuman. Gangasagar Mela is mentioned in the Bhāratēra Tīrthayātrā (in en: India's Pilgrimage) by Shri Madhavachandra Varman published in 1336 Baṅgābda. This text mentions "three days of bathing in the Gangasagar during Makara Sankranti in Poush or Magh month, the fair lasts for five days".

After India's independence, the pilgrimage site began to flourish. Pictures of the temple were published in the Bengali book Gangasagar Mela O Pracina Aitihya by Tarundev Bhattacharya. According to the text, the permanent temple emerged in the form of a mature temple between 1964 and 1974. The West Bengal Government assisted in the construction of a permanent temple in the 1970s. In the following decades, the number of pilgrims to the fair increased. At present, millions of people congregate every year on the auspicious day of Makara Sankranti or Poush-Sankranti (mid-January) in the month of Poush to celebrate the Gangasagar fair and the pilgrimage site.

Pilgrims

In 2007, about 300,000 pilgrims took the holy dip where the Ganges (Hooghly) meets the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Almost five-hundred thousand pilgrims thronged Gangasagar in 2008. For the rest of the year about 500,000 people come to the island. According to reports on 14 January 2018, 1.8-2 million people had visited Gangasagar in 2018, against 1.5 million in 2017. In 2023, about 51 lakhs pilgrims gathered in the Gangasagar Mela.