ART-0518 Nasik: One of the Four Kumbha Melas

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Nasik is one of the four main Kumbha Mela sites (see Teacher’s Book page 72).

Lord Rama stayed here with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman for some time during his fourteen year exile in the forest. Lakshman cut off the nose of Surpanaka, the younger sister of Ravana – hence the name Nasik (derived from a word meaning “cutting of the nose”).

Sita was abducted by Ravana from Nasik and was taken to the island of Lanka. The main pilgrimage place at Nasik is the Rama Kunda area, by the Godavari River. This is where Lord Rama and Sita used to bathe, and therefore this place is considered especially sacred.

Lord Rama is said to have performed funeral rites here in memory of his father King Dasaratha.

The Kumbha Mela, which is a large spiritual fesival, is held in Nasik every twelve years and it also takes place at Allahabad, Haridwar and Ujjain. At these four places drops of nectar fell, produced from the churning of the ocean of milk by the demigods and demons and assisted by Kurma.

Three and a half million people came to Nasik for the Kumbha Mela in 1991. The next Kumbha Mela to be held there is in 2003.

Nasik is on the Banks of Godavari River, which flows into the Bay of Bengal. It is located 115 miles north-east of Bombay.