Kumbh Mela

proper noun

A Hindu festival, held every twelve years at four locations in India, at which pilgrims bathe in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers for purification from sin.

Meanings

proper nounKumbh Mela (plural Kumbh Melas)

plural Kumbh Melas · alternative Kumbha Mela

  1. A Hindu festival, held every twelve years at four locations in India, at which pilgrims bathe in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers for purification from sin.

    Kumbh Melas are held every 12 years. The last Haridwar Kumbh Mela was held in 2010.

    2021 April 20, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, “Kumbh 2021: Astrology, Mortality and the Indifference to Life of Leaders and Stars”, in The Wire, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2021
    3 more examples

    Kumbh Mela (The Pot Fair) is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage and a religious festival where millions of sadhus, pilgrims, and devotees come for historical ritual bathing at four sites on the banks of Rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari and Shipra, considered sacrad.

    2005, Kartar Sing hBhalla, Let's Know Festivals of India, →ISBN, page 7

    Kumbh Mela is the single largest religious congregation or, in fact, human gathering of any kind on Earth.

    2010, Badri Narain, Kedar Narain, Christopher N. Burchett, Kumbh Mela and the Sadhus: The Quest for Immortality, →ISBN

    Once every twelve years a great Kumbh Mela takes place, when the propitious timing is amplified many thousands of times over. And, in keeping with the lunar cycles, every twelfth great Kumbh Mela is the 'Maha' -- held ever 144 years.

    2013, Tahir Shah, Three Essays: Cannibalism, The Kumbh Mela, The Legacy of Arab Science, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Hindustani
  2. EnglishKumbh Mela

Borrowed from Hindustani کُمبھ میلَہ (kumbh melā) / कुंभ मेला (kumbh melā). Related to kumbha and mela.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Kumbh Mela. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kumbh%20Mela

MLA

“Kumbh Mela.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kumbh%20Mela. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kumbh Mela,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kumbh%20Mela.

Source: Kumbh Mela on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.