Anyone looking for a confluence of people and cultures from different parts of India must visit the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj. For a truly immersive 'Bharat' experience, they can attend one of the ‘darshan’ sessions of Puri's Shankaracharya Jagadguru Nischalananda Saraswati, which is attracting a large number of mela visitors in recent days.
The shankaracharya was leading a gathering of about 20,000 devotees when I visited his pandal on the evening of Thursday, 23 January. Through a song, he demanded the declaration of India as a Hindu State.
“Hum Bharat brihat banayenge,
Kesariya dhwaj leharayenge,
Hum Hindu Rashtra banayenge...”
("We will make Bharat great,
We will hoist the saffron flag,
We will create a Hindu state...”)
The idea of involving large crowds in a pledge-type song that demands the creation of a Hindu State is significant. The crowd responded to the 82-year-old seer’s sing-song voice, sometimes crackling, line after line.
A Song for Hindu Rashtra
The scene at this pandal is typical of what is happening across dozens of meetings, addressed by religious figures, who are trying to use the Kumbh Mela as a platform to launch a nationwide movement for persuading the government to nullify the secular aspect of the Constitution – and declare India as a Hindu State.
The Kumbh Mela attracts people seeking ways of overcoming past sins and connecting with their inner selves. According to the Uttar Pradesh government, the mela is expected to attract 40 crore Indians from all over the country.
For the supporters of Hindu Rashtra, there cannot be a better opportunity to launch a political movement than the Kumbh. But few come to the mela to listen to political discourse, even if it is connected to Hinduism.
The demand for a Hindu Rashtra is heard during religious discourses, question-answer sessions with seers, and through megaphones mounted on moving vehicles. A boatman who took me to the ‘triveni sangam’ (the confluence of three rivers) expressed his appreciation for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decision to ban the entry of Muslims to the mela ground.
There are also signs of competition among some Hindu leaders trying to attract larger crowds by using powerful, contentious language to cast aspersions on minorities. One sadhu (ascetic) could be heard giving a clarion call to defend Hinduism as if it is under attack.
“Our daughters are trying to avoid making children while people in other communities are increasing their numbers,” complained another sadhu.
(Un)Holy Sermons
Is such rabble-rousing creating the desired impact, though? Not really, if audience engagement is any indicator. The applause from the audience remains slow and feeble.
There is no sign of the kind of charged atmosphere seen during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the early nineties. The fervour at Kumbh is religious, not political.
People coming to the mela are mostly interested in taking a holy dip at the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Jamna (Yamuna), and the mythical Saraswati which is believed to be an underground stream.
“I came to listen to a religious discourse. I want to learn more about spirituality. I did not expect political talk.”A Kumbh visitor from Madhya Pradesh
The Shankaracharya of Puri permitted me to ask a question after I had introduced myself as a journalist.
“What will be the shape and substance of the Hindu Rashtra if and when it is declared? How will it be different from the present situation? Will it take us forward and enhance our capability to counter border challenges from Pakistan and China more effectively?” I asked.
“The Hindu Rashtra will be an inclusive nation comprising prosperous, healthy, service-oriented people who will never harm others and stand ready to defend the country’s security and integrity,” the seer spoke, rhyming his words in Sanskirtised Hindi.
"In the future, we will write a ‘Sanatan Sambhidan’ (Hindu law) that will incorporate these qualities. There will be no opposition to the proposed law from any quarter because it is a proven fact that the ancestors of all Indians were Vedic Arya Hindus."Shankaracharya of Puri
The gathering listened to the seer in rapt attention as he entered into more controversial territory. “Who were the ancestors of Mohammad Sahab? Who were the ancestors of Jesus Christ?”
“Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a speech that his ancestors were Kashmiri Pandits. Everyone’s ancestors were indeed Vedic Sanatan Aryas. I got a message from people in Pakistan that they were originally Hindu Kshtriyas,” he said, adding, “Some 32 years back when I took the position of Shankaracharya, I got a message from people in America that their ancestors were Sanatani Hindus who were slaughtered. 'We feel the suffering of our ancestors to this day although we have become Christians,' they said”.
The Shankaracharya told his audience that former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Sudarshan once told him that Jesus Christ had survived the crucifixion and travelled to Jammu where he ended his life. “The Vaishnav tilak (forehead mark) is applied to Christ’s idol in Rome,” he said.
Politics of Polarisation
Dwarka Shardapeeth Shankarayacharya Sadanand Saraswati was even more explicit on the issue of Hindu nationalism.
“This is the country of Hindus, the Sanatanis. If Hindu Rashtra is declared, how can anyone object?” he asked. “The issue is how to declare India under the present Constitution. The Constitution must be amended to make this possible,” the Shankaracharya said in another meeting on Wednesday, 22 January.
He also called on the government to set up a Sanatan Board for the growth of Hindu religious institutions.
“The idea of Waqf board is neither in Quran nor the Constitution,” he said while discussing the Muslim institution that manages the properties of mosques across the country.
Seers like him are supporting a plan to create a Sanatan Board along the lines of a concept worked out by famous Hindu storyteller Devkinandan.
There are wheels within wheels. It must be understood that three out of the four Shankaracharyas in India had opposed the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, saying that it was not being carried out as per the Hindu scriptures.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the ceremony on 22 January 2024.
The Shankaracharyas of Dwarka in Gujarat, Jyotir Math in Uttarakhand, Puri in Odisha, and Sringeri in Karnataka are custodians of different Vedic scriptures. They try to promote the philosophy of eighth-century seer, Adi Shankara, who believed in Advaita (non-duality or that God and humans are not different, and that the material world is an illusion).
Incidentally, UP CM Adityanath in a recent speech at Kumbh Mela said, "Sanatan Dharma is the national religion of India. It is the religion of humanity. The process of worship can be different. But religion is one and that religion is Sanatan Dharma. Kumbh is the representative of that Sanatan Dharma".
Go figure.
(Saibal Dasgupta has been a foreign correspondent for 18 years and has authored Running with the Dragon: How India Should Do Business with China. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)