Naked Naga Sadhus Campaign Against Global Warming at Kumbh Mela

Thousands of naked and semi-clad Naga Sadhus or Indian Holy Men are using the Kumbh mela festival, the world’s largest spiritual gathering, to campaign against global warming.

The Indian holy men are referred to as Naga Sadhus - monks who normally live in quiet isolation in the Himalayan mountains or forests in India but who venture out of their caves and mountain retreats, and descend down to the banks of India’s most holy river to take part in the festival which takes place once every 12 years. An estimated five million people have thronged the holy town of Haridwar for a dip in the Ganga on Thursday in ritual bathing believed to cleanse them of their sins and to herald the Maha Kumbh, a religious fair that occurs once in 12 years.
The ritual bathing begins sharp at the stroke of midnight at Brahma Kund, a large pond at the ancient Har Ki Pauri on the banks of the Ganga.
The Maha Kumbh, which will end on April 28, has 11 bathing dates, beginning Thursday. By the time the mega festival ends, officials say it would have drawn at least 60 million men, women and children from the length and breadth of India and abroad — a sharp climb from the nearly 10 million who came here during the last Maha Kumbh in 1998. The tents that house most of the sadhus and other devotees are already spilling over well beyond Haridwar, one of the most important spots where Hindus worship the Ganga, the river they hold sacred.

Ash-smeared Naga sadhus — stark naked devotees of Lord Shiva — will lead the procession to the main bathing spot on Thursday decked in wreaths of marigolds and carrying staves, tridents, swords and saffron flags. For many sadhus who have renounced the world and live in the mountains, the Kumbh Mela is one of the few occasions when they meet lay people. The mela started centuries ago as a theological discussion among various Hindu sects.