This aerial handout photograph taken and released by India's Uttar Pradesh State Information Department shows Hindu pilgrims taking a holy dip in the sacred waters of the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers, during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj. Photo: Uttar Pradesh State Information Department/AFP. (14 Jan. 2025)

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Indian diocese welcomes Hindus for millennia-old Hindu festival

Catholic educational institutions close to bathing spots are thrown open for the convenience of pilgrims at Kumbh Mel.

An Indian diocese has opened its facilities to welcome Hindu pilgrims during a six-week festival in a northern city, hailing it as a “wonderful experience of faith.” Organizers of the millennia-old Maha Kumbh Mela, a mammoth expression of religious piety and ritual bathing that opened on Jan. 13, expect 400 million people in the city of Prayagraj, earlier called Allahabad.

“You have to see it to believe it,” Bishop Louis Mascarenhas of Allahabad in the northern Uttar Pradesh state told UCA News on Jan. 15. “We have thrown open three of our educational institutions — St Joseph College, St Mary’s Convent Inter College, and Bethany Convent School — for the convenience of Hindu pilgrims during the entire duration of the festival,” Mascarenhas said. He said the pilgrims were driven by their faith to take the holy dip in the cold waters despite the temperatures hovering around 4 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Hindus believe that during the auspicious period, a ritual bath in the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswathi can wash away sins, free them from the cycle of rebirth, and help them attain moksha (salvation).

The Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj attracts Hindus worldwide as it occurs only once every 12 years. Many pilgrims begin bathing in the waters before sunrise during the festival scheduled to culminate on Feb. 26.

Mascarenhas said the bathing spots are about three to four kilometers away from the church institutions “and so it’s very convenient for the pilgrims” to use them. “We are happy to provide any assistance the pilgrims may need,” Mascarenhas said, adding that the Catholic Church was “playing its part in the success” of the festival.

The bishop said his Hindu friends invited him to see the preparations for the festival when it was launched.

“I saw hundreds of saffron-robed monks, ash-smeared ascetics, and seers put up in tents. I sat down and chatted with some of them as I went around. They were very warm and friendly,” Mascarenhas said. He said ordinary Hindus appreciate Christianity. “One monk told me that Jesus Christ is his Ista Devata [favorite god],” the prelate recalled.

Mascarenhas said Christians in the northern state enjoy a good rapport with their fellow Hindus, though they face increased hostility from certain sections of radical Hindus. Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, has become the worst place for Christians as the state government added more teeth to its draconian anti-conversion law in August last year. The state, which is ruled by the Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported 156 of the 585 anti-Christian incidents in the country in 2024. It topped among India’s 28 states to report such cases.

Scores of Christians, including pastors, were arrested on charges of violating the anti-conversion law. Several of them continue in jail, waiting for bail. Some Christian leaders say hostility toward Christians increased as Modi won a third term in June 2024, leading his party in the national elections.

The BJP and allied Hindu groups support the idea of making India a Hindu theocratic nation and oppose mission activities in villages, projecting them as tactics to convert gullible tribal and socially poor villagers. “In many places, Christians could not celebrate Christmas peacefully and joyfully. They were marred by aggressive sloganeering and disturbances,” Mascarenhas said.

The prelate said they tried to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk-turned-politician. “But he did not grant us an audience to present our side,” the prelate said.

Christians make up less than 1 percent of more than 200 million people in Uttar Pradesh, and more than 80 percent of them are Hindus.

Posted: Jan. 16, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14463
Categories: News • In this article: Catholic, Hindu, India, pilgrimage Transmis : 16 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14463
Catégorie : News • Dans cet article : Catholic, Hindu, India, pilgrimage