Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela

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Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela
Directed byMaurizio Benazzo
Nick Day
Produced byMaurizio Benazzo
Nick Day
StarringJasper Johal
Justin Davis
Swami Krishnanad
Music byBob Muller
Production
company
Mela Films LLC
Release date
  • May 11, 2004 (2004-05-11)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Hindi

Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela is a 2004 feature documentary film by Nick Day and Maurizio Benazzo about the 2001 Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad. The documentary premiered in the USA on May 11, 2004. [1] The film won several awards on the festival circuit and played in theaters across the US and Europe.

Contents

Kumbh Mela

The Kumbh Mela (the festival of the urn) commemorates an event in Hindu mythology when the gods (Devas) and the demons (Asuras) were fighting over an urn that contained the nectar of immortality (Amrita). During the fight, four drops of nectar fell to Earth and landed in the four locations where the Kumbh Mela is now held on a three-yearly rotation: Allahabad (Prayag), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik. The 2001 event at Allahabad was also known as the Maha (great) Kumbh Mela, occurring only once every 12 Kumbh Melas, or every 144 years. The Kumbh Mela is one of the largest human gatherings in history, with an estimated 70 million people attending the 2001 event [2] [3] [4] [5]

Synopsis

Short Cut to Nirvana Looks at the Kumbh Mela from the point of view of four visitors from the US and Canada, each on their first visit to the event, although one, Los Angeles-based photographer Jasper Johal, is himself an Indian returning for the first time in 23 years. Two of the visitors, Dyan Summers and Justin Davis, befriend a likable young Hindu monk Swami Krishnanand, who acts as their guide and translator, and appears in much of the film. The structure of the film is episodic with an underlying theme that builds, with visits to various elaborate camps set up by gurus and yogis, some of whom have unusual and extreme practices, such as keeping on arm raised for many years or sitting on a throne of nails over a flaming pit. The filmmakers interview several of these spiritual teachers, and these interviews are often interconnected with visual and musical interludes that illustrate the diverse activities taking place at the event. These include ritual bathing, dancing and theatre, head shaving, fire rituals, and other devotional activities. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, also appears in the film as an official guest of Hindu leaders seeking to harmonize relations between Hinduism and Buddhism. The film’s closing scene is the highlight of the Kumbh Mela, known as Mauni Amavasya, the new moon bathing day, which is considered the most auspicious time to take a holy dip at the sangam – the confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and mythical Saraswati rivers. An estimated 25 million pilgrims enter the sangam during this 24-hour period, which is believed to cleanse their karma for many lifetimes.

Release and reception

Short Cut to Nirvana premiered in the US in May, 2004 and was on release for over one year. The film also received a theatrical release in Germany, with the premiere in Hamburg in April, 2006. The film was released by Zeitgeist Films in October 2005.

The film was generally well received by the critics and scored 75% fresh by online movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes’ Top Reviewers. [6]

The Los Angeles Times's Kevin Crust wrote "If the film offers any lesson, it is that nirvana is not easily attainable, so there really are no shortcuts." Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "A snapshot of the festival, one that radiates good cheer and offers moments of true, godly goodness". [7]

"Short Cut to Nirvana is a beautifully crafted documentary that details the organized chaos and curious piety surrounding the Kumbh Mela, an Indian religious festival held on 12-year intervals for the past two millennia". [8]

The New York Times's A.O. Scott wrote "Given the event's size and complexity, it is perhaps inevitable that this documentary feels haphazard and superficial, more tourist's photo album than analysis. Still, the glimpses it offers are never less than fascinating". [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

Kumbh Mela Hindu pilgrimage and festival celebrated in India

Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Allahabad, Haridwar (Ganges), Nashik (Godavari), and Ujjain (Shipra). The festival is marked by a ritual dip in the waters, but it is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass gatherings of monks, and entertainment spectacle. The seekers believe that bathing in these rivers is a means to prāyaścitta for past mistakes, and that it cleanses them of their sins.

Makar Sankranti Hindu festival that reveres Surya (sun god)

Makara/Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti, also known in West Bengal as Mokor Sonkranti, in Mithila as Til Sakraait and in Nepal as Maghe Sankranti, 'Sankranti' here means ‘transfer’, this day is considered as the transition day of Sun into Capricorn. Now the sun moves northwards in the Hindu calendar, dedicated to the deity Surya (sun), many native multi-day festivals are organised all over India. It is observed each year the day Sun enters the Capricorn zodiac which corresponds with the month of January as per the Gregorian calendar. It marks the first day of the sun's transit into Makara rashi (Capricorn).

Fair Gathering for entertainment or commerce

A fair is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.

Melā Sanskrit word meaning "gathering" or "to meet" or a "fair"

Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning "gathering" or "to meet" or a "fair". It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gatherings and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sport-related. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance. This led to their export around the world by South Asian diaspora communities wishing to bring something of that tradition to their new countries.

Allahabad district District of Uttar Pradesh in India

Allahabad district, officially known as Prayagraj district, is the most populous district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The district headquarters is Allahabad which was renamed Prayagraj at the same time as the district was renamed. The District is divided into blocks within tehsils. As of 2011, there are 20 blocks in eight tehsils. The Allahabad division includes the districts of Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Kaushambi and Allahabad, with some western parts that had previously part of Allahabad District becoming part of the new Kaushambi District. The administrative divisions are Phulpur, Koraon, Meja, Sadar, Soraon, Handia, Bara, Shringverpur and Karchana.

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Allahabad Metropolis in Uttar Pradesh, India

Allahabad, officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Allahabad district—the most populous district in the state and 13th most populous district in India—and the Allahabad division. The city is the judicial capital of Uttar Pradesh with the Allahabad High Court being the highest judicial body in the state. As of 2011, Allahabad is the seventh most populous city in the state, thirteenth in Northern India and thirty-sixth in India, with an estimated population of 1.53 million in the city. In 2011 it was ranked the world's 40th fastest-growing city. Allahabad, in 2016, was also ranked the third most liveable urban agglomeration in the state and sixteenth in the country. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the city.

Rajim Kumbh Hindu pilgrimage

Rajim Kumbh is an annual Hindu pilgrimage held in Rajim, located in Gariyaband district, Chhattisgarh, India. The pilgrimage is similar to the traditional pilgrim fairs like those held in Haridwar and Allahabad. Like them, it's a kumbh, where devotees flock in to bathe en masse in sacred rivers to wash off their sins and attain redemption.

1954 Kumbh Mela stampede occurred in 1954 at Kumbha Mela on 3 February 1954 in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh state in India. It was the main bathing day of Mauni Amavasya, when the incident took place. During the festival 4–5 million pilgrims had taken part that year, which was also the first Kumbh Mela after the Independence.

Magh Mela

Magh mela, also spelled Magha mela, is an annual festival with fairs held in the month of Magha (January/February) near river banks and sacred tanks near Hindu temples. About every twelve years, Magha melas coincide with what is believed by faithful as an astrologically auspicious position of Jupiter, sun and moon, and these are called the Kumbh Mela such as the one at Allahabad. In the south, a notable festival is at the Mahamaham tank in Kumbhakonam; in the east, at Sagar island of West Bengal and Konark, Puri. The Magha festival, along with the bathing rituals as a form of penance, is also observed by the Hindu community in Bali, Indonesia.

Nick Day is a British born, US-based filmmaker specializing in the topic of consciousness. His most notable work to date as director is the documentary Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela.

Here is a list of glossary of Culture of India in alphabetical order:

On 10 February 2013, during the Hindu festival of Kumbh Mela, a stampede broke out at the train station in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, killing 42 people and injuring at least 300 people.

Baba Rampuri, born William A. Gans, also known as Baba Ram Puri -ji is an American born Sadhu. He claims to be the first westerner to become a Naga Sadhu, having been initiated in 1970. He is the author of the 2010 Destiny Books published book Autobiography of a Sadhu: A Journey into Mystic India, originally published in 2005 by Harmony/Bell Tower as Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi, and now released by Amarpuri Wellness in 2016 as Autobiography of a Sadhu: An Angrez among Naga Babas which has also been translated into German, Russian, Czech, Croatian, and Serbian. He was initiated into the religious order the Naga Sannyasis after traveling to India on a spiritual quest from his native California in 1969, at the age of 18. Like many Sadhus, he has stopped using his birth name since his initiation, refuses to give it, and is unwilling to talk about his past. He is Shri Mahant at Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara.

Haridwar Kumbh Mela Mela held in Haridwar, India

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Ujjain Simhastha Hindu religious mela held every 12 years

Ujjain Simhastha is a Hindu religious mela held every 12 years in the Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh, India. The name is also transliterated as Sinhastha or Singhastha. In Hindi, the fair is also called Simhasth or Sinhasth. The name derives from the fact that it is held when the Jupiter is in Leo.

Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha

Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha is a Hindu religious mela held every 12 years in the Nashik district of Maharashtra, India. The name of the festival is also transliterated as Sinhastha or Singhastha. It is one of the four fairs traditionally recognized as Kumbha Melas, and is also known as Nashik-Trimbak Kumbha Mela or Nashik Kumbha Mela.

The Allahabad Kumbh Mela, also Prayag Kumbh Mela, is a mela, or religious gathering, associated with Hinduism and held in the city of Allahabad, India, at the Prayag or Triveni Sangam—which represents the confluence of three rivers two of which, the Ganges and the Yamuna, have objective existence, and one, the Sarasvati is mythical. The festival is marked by a ritual dip in the waters, but it is also a celebration of community commerce with numerous fairs, education, religious discourses by saints, mass feedings of monks or the poor, and entertainment spectacle. Approximately 50 and 30 million people attended the Allahabad Ardh Kumbh Mela in 2019 and Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 respectively to bathe in the holy river Ganges, making them the largest peaceful gathering events in the world.

2019 Prayag Kumbh Mela Ardh Kumbh Mela held in Allahabad from January to March 2019

The 2019 Prayagraj Ardh Kumbh Mela was the Ardh Kumbh Mela held at Triveni Sangam in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India from 15 January to 4 March 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "IMDB" . Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  2. ↑ Millions bathe at Hindu festival BBC News, January 3, 2007.
  3. ↑ Kumbh Mela pictured from space - probably the largest human gathering in history BBC News, January 26, 2001.
  4. ↑ Kumbh Mela: the largest pilgrimage - Pictures: Kumbh Mela by Karoki Lewis The Times , March 22, 2008. Behind paywall.
  5. ↑ Kumbh Mela - 25 January 2001 - New Scientist
  6. ↑ "Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
  7. ↑ Carla Meyer (2012-10-04). "A gathering of gurus and true believers". sfgate.com. San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  8. ↑ "KUMBH MELA: SHORT CUT TO NIRVANA". Film Threat . Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  9. ↑ A.O. Scott. "Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mala (2002)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
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