“So, the stampede happened.” Thus begins an article on the editorial page of The Times of India (January 30) by Devdutt Pattanaik, self-styled scholar of Hinduism. He might as well have begun by saying “I told you so.” The article is pegged on the tragedy that occurred at Mahakumbh-2025 on January 29, in which at least 30 people died and around 60 were injured.
Immediately, he sets about citing the faultlines—VIPs always get the access, it is the common people, who suffer.[1] He conveniently ignores the fact that VIPs, by and large, arrive on non-special bathing days, during which the number of devotees is of a lesser magnitude. Further, the Mela area is so large that lakhs take dip every day—even on the days VIPs are present in the Kumbh area.
Mahakumbh-2025 is huge and unprecedented in its scale. On the special bathing days (amrit snana days), the akharas (monk sects) get special treatment, and their bathing procession is a ritual and a view to cherish. It is colourful, vigorous, full of energy. However, as soon as the news of the tragedy spread, the akharas immediately decided to scale down and delay their bathing processions. Pattanaik will never acknowledge this fact.
Next, Pattanaik contrasts China’s announcement of Deepseek, the AI app, which has taken over ChatGPT of America in terms of being the top-most downloaded app, with Mahakumbh-2025. Why? Because they (huge crowds) were “encouraged by the Sanatani social media to take a dip in the confluence of three rivers… of Prayagraj. For there is a rare planetary alignment that will transform the river water into nectar.” The innuendo being that the Sanatanis are only interested in the spiritual abracadabra, having no consciousness of the technological leaps in the ‘material world.’ What he will never, or perhaps realise, is that, for a true Sanatani, the material and the spiritual merge; more of than not. And, as for technology, we are doing great things, and greater things are in store.
Again, he conveniently escapes two things: People have been thronging Kumbh since there was no radio, television, social media. And, proportionately, the numbers have always been high. In so far as water turning into nectar is considered, nobody is asking him to consume that water and think that he will become immortal—none of the devotees think so. The devotees gather there for their faith, and the sheer energy the place bestows upon them. It gives them strength to carry on with their lives in the ‘normal world.’
One does not know if Pattanaik has ever been to Kumbh. Even if he were to, he would not be able to figure out the energy, and synergy, the teerthas offer to their devotees. It is not for those not having aastha. Further, it is a congregation where ‘nobody is invited; and everybody is invited.’ What it means is that no official invitation is issued to anybody, but nobody is turned away. This all-encompassing aspect of the event will never be taken into account by Pattanaik, and others of his ilk.
For Pattanaik, by holding this huge congregation, Sanatanis sought to “establish India’s supremacy in the spiritual domain, to make up for India’s many shortcomings in the material domain. More people were at this site, on the holy day, than at Mecca or Jerusalem, it will be proclaimed.” Really, Mr Pattanaik?
If it is spiritual, it cannot be to “establish supremacy.” Spiritualism can mean so many things to so many people, but one knows enough to say that it cannot be a fight for supremacy. And, if it is, then it must be politics-masquerading-as-religion dogma, from which perspective he seems to be speaking.
The Sanatanis are in no competition with other religious places. However, this does not stop them for celebrating their own festivals to the best of their abilities.
Once again, Pattanaik connects Jain teerthankaras and Akbar and Akshay Vat (the old banyan tree)—in a desperate bid to prove that Kumbh festival was only as old as what a Chinese traveller mentioned in the seventh century CE, or something that started with Jainas, was popularised/ institutionalised by Akbar, and given its current shape by the British. The logic is the ‘first recorded mention’, by a Chinese scholar in this case.
The problem with the likes of Pattanaiks is that they conveniently ignore the fact that, if a witness has seen something, that means the particular event was already happening—it did not start with the witness recording it. The problem is refusing to look beyond what the school books said and what their ecosystem wants to hear.
Again, if the logic is that the Jainism and Buddhism were rebellions to the existing religion, then the question is what was that religion? The answer is Sanatana. Then, how can Sanatana be considered as something that has become part of the people’s life only after Jainas, the Mughals and the British came? But then, the Pattanaiks love such simplistic formulations—because, it would be blasphemous for their ecosystem, if they were to acknowledge the antiquity of the Sanatana dharma. Further, whether it was called Illahabas, or Illahabad (about which he dwells on some length), the fact that remains the place was called Prayagraj thousands of years before Akbar.
It indeed beats common sense that the same set of people cry buckets of tears on the Sanatani being non-inclusive for, say, the LGBTQ+. They constantly keep working to make the ‘society more inclusive.’ But when a Kinnar Akhara was added to the existing akharas, the likes of Pattanaik say, rather gingerly, say that this was “invented recently to accommodate queer folks into the Sanatani fold.” [Emphasis supplied] It is the same argument they use when talking about the tribals. And who said that kinnars are not Sanatanis—or cannot be Sanatanis. One of the major source of earnings for Kinnars have been to come to the houses during marriages, or when a family welcomes a baby; and Sanatanis not only expect them to visit, but many shower them with lot of money, happily—and they do follow the faith in which they are born. So, what does he mean when he says “to accommodate queer folks into the Sanatani fold”? Of course, verbal ‘sleight of hand.’
Towards the end, Pattanaik feels sad that this spiritual congregation is being used to “generate wealth” through religious tourism. Oh yes! That is so sad. How can Sanatanis generate wealth? Are they mad?
Probably, Pattanaik does not realise that every place in the world where people gather for spiritual purposes invariably leads to an economy. It is how the natural world processes flow—of course, not in the fantasy world of Pattanaik, where Sanatana is to be held subordinate, nay slave, to any and every other faith.
Finally, and it was a bit expected, Pattanaik could not resist mentioning hygiene. Dirtying of the waters of our sacred Rivers has a history that goes through the colonial period. It will require some detail. But, let me give you just a small example. The British set up an opium factory in Ghazipur district, adjacent to Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, close to River Ganga. This was to facilitate their opium trade with China. The processing creates waste fluid, which is narcotic in nature. There is a Sankat Mochan Temple on the banks of River Ganga. The monkeys drink that fluid, thinking it to be water, and seem to under intoxication. That waste fluid fell into Ganga through an open drain. I know this because I lived there for a few years during my childhood. Ditto for the tanneries of Kanpur; and sewage of many cities. Of course, efforts are on; a few have succeeded under the present government.
Pattanaik and others of his ilk live in a fantasy world where there is no place of proud celebration of Sanatana. It is a classic The Truman Show syndrome. They believe in what they are made to believe right since an early age. While in the movie The Truman Show, the protagonist finally realises that he was part of a show; that revelation is still to fall on the likes of Pattanaik.
