Kumbh Mela
Hindu pilgrimage and festival celebrated in India
Kumbh Mela (Sanskrit: Kumbha Mēlā, pronounced [kʊˈmbʱᵊ melaː]; lit. 'festival of the Sacred Pitcher') is a Hindu pilgrimage, celebrated every four or twelve years, correlated with the partial or full revolution of Jupiter. These are held at four locations–Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain– at varying time intervals. According to the Puranas, these sites are believed to have received drops of the divine nectar (amrita) during the Samudra Manthana (churning of the ocean of milk). The Kumbh Mela lasts between one and three months, with the Amavasya day attracting the largest crowds. The festival attracts millions of people, with the largest gathering recorded at Prayag. About 660 million attended the Kumbh Mela in 2025, up from 240 million in 2019, making it the largest gathering in the world. It has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Kumbh Mela is observed at each site on a cycle of approximately 12 years based on the Hindu luni-solar calendar and the relative positions of Jupiter, the Sun, and the Moon. As per Hindu astrology, specific alignments of Jupiter, the Sun, and the Moon only occur at the four Kumbh locations in a 12-year cycle. The Prayag and Haridwar festivals are held six years apart, and feature a Maha (major) and Ardha (half) Kumbh Melas.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kumbh Mela” as hindu pilgrimage and festival celebrated in India. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as hindu pilgrimage and festival celebrated in India. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q10283. The Library of Congress control number is sh85073421. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025 and 2019.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kumbh Mela”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kumbh Mela primary sources, Kumbh Mela archive and Kumbh research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kumbh Mela”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kumbh Mela” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.