New Orders at an Ancient Festival

By Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Instructional Assistant Professor, University of Houston. Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey.

The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions.

Hindu traditions are remarkably diverse, yet Hindus worldwide revere the Maha Kumbh Mela festival, the “Great Pot Gathering.” In Sanskrit, the term maha means “great” or “greatest,” kumbh means “pitcher” or “pot,” and mela means “festival” or “gathering.” This grandest of all Kumbh festivals is celebrated for five to six weeks every 12 years. In February 2025, CNN reported that 600 million people attended this festival from January 13 to February 26, 2025, a staggering number. I can confirm that millions attended during the days I was there. In this traditional space, I witnessed unprecedented events and accessed inaccessible rituals. You never know what you’re going to get at the Kumbh!

Hindu ascetics and renunciates called sadhus gather at this festival, attracting those curious about sadhus’ congregations or lineages called akhara. Ordinary individuals gain otherwise unthinkable access to sadhus—interacting with them, learning from them, and even participating in sadhus’ rituals. The history of akharas in South Asia spans millennia, but that history is not yet over. I witnessed the public debut of a new akhara, called the Kinnar Akhara, at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, composed of members known as kinnars, erstwhile known as hijras.

According to mythology associated with the Kumbh, during the “Churning of the Ocean” by godly Devas and the demon Asuras, a god emerged with a pitcher containing amrit, the elixir of immortality. Jayant, son of the hero-god Indra, fled with that pot to prevent the Asuras from stealing it. Drops of the elixir fell at four riverside locations, and Maha Kumbh festivals are held there every 12 years, corresponding to Jayant’s 12-day flight: Haridwar, Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Ujjain, and Nashik-Trimbakeshwar. Immersing oneself in these rivers during the Maha Kumbh accesses that amrit elixir, and bathing there is believed to dissolve past debts to ancestors, gods, and gurus and to generate punya, spiritual merit. Ritual bathing is the most visible ritual at the festival and is the main reason for attendance.

In the ancient epic Mahabharata, akharas are training schools for professional fighters. In the early to mid-eighth century, the philosopher Adi Shankaracharya established the Dashanami Sampradaya, meaning The Tradition of Ten Names, categorizing ascetics into two sadhu akharas: Scripture-bearers, for the intelligentsia, and Weapon-Bearers, for warriors. Later, weapon-bearing sadhus, known as Nagas, promoted and protected pilgrimage sites and pilgrimage routes. Other akharas were established over time, including the Niranjani Akhara in 904 CE, the Juna Akhara in 1146 CE, and the Ananda Akhara in 1856 CE. One hundred sixty-nine years later, at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, the Kinnar Akhara for the first time took center stage among all the other sadhu akharas.

Kinnars are also called hijras, a popular but antiquated term for a heterogeneous group. The words kinnar and hijra carry a variety of meanings across South Asian religions and languages. In urban centers today, metropolitan hijras are starting to identify as trans women. Today, gender identity is a concept of conversation among upwardly mobile urbanites. Rising awareness of Indian LGBTQ + identities is reframing hijras as legitimate historical figures of queerness. This topic is quite intricate and cannot be fully explored in this brief format. In simple terms, hijras represent a diverse group that encompasses various cross-gender identities, attributes, and behaviors. In Western contexts, this group might include individuals typically classified as eunuchs, homosexuals, transgender individuals, intersex people, and cross-dressers.

Hijra’s spoken words are believed to bear significant power, often manifesting their meaning into reality, instilling a common fear of their curses, and simultaneously prompting requests for equally potent blessings. These figures are typically involved in the badhai or “happy greetings,” where hijras bless families after joyous life events, such as marriages or the birth of a child. The Kinnar Akhara ritually perpetuates these associations with blessings and fertility.

Under the leadership of Acharya Dr. Laxminarayan Tripathi, the Kinnar Akhara was formed in 2019, and at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, the Kinnar Akhara first participated as an independent akhara with its own encampment, ceremonies, and ritual services. The Maha Kumbh Mela, largely attended by South Asians, this year provided a global platform for the Kinnar Akhara. They were assigned a bathing time just at sunrise, considered the most auspicious time, bestowing considerable esteem upon the akhara. The bathing and other processions of the Kinnar Akhara and their sadhu encampment bustled with onlookers and seekers looking for blessings; their crowds seemed to me the largest patronizing any akhara camp.

Unlike most religious festivals, the Maha Kumbh Mela offers unparalleled access: to the blessings of amrit and to sadhus otherwise secluded in hermitages. The highlight for me was, to the best of my knowledge, the Kinnar Akhara’s public offering of two secret rituals for the first time, the Aghor Kali Puja and the Yonikunda fire-offering rite, which were led nightly by their members from midnight to two in the morning. All were welcome. Access to these rituals is usually only granted by religious authorities to prominent initiates and advanced practitioners and performed away from prying eyes, often amounting to a power play of invitation and denial. Such power plays fade at the festival. To my surprise, I was even invited to perform in one of these ceremonies.