Mahamaham
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Mahamaham is a Hindu Kumb Mela festival celebrated every 12 years in a small temple-town called Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, India. Hindus consider taking a holy dip at the Mahamaham tank on the day of Mahamaham as sacred. The last Mahamaham was celebrated on March 6, 2004, with people from various places taking the holy dip in the Mahamaham tank.
The festival is celebrated at an interval of around eleven to twelve years. The festival takes place at a particular time as determined by astrological position: during the full moon of the Tamil month of Maasi (February-March) when the conjunction of the moon with the lunar asterism (Magha Nakshatra) and when Jupiter is in the constellation of Leo.
The festival lasts for nine days. During this festival, thousands of Hindu devotees come to Kumbakonam, and take bath in a tank named Mahamaham tank. Some of them instead of taking bath in the tank, sprinkle water from the tank on their bodies. It is believed that taking bath or sprinkling water of the tank on the bodies cleanses all the sins.
On the occasion of the festival, a metal image of the deities of the main temples of Kumbakonam is carried on palanquins or chariots and taken around the different streets of the town.
The next Mahamaham will be celebrated in the year 2016.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dallapiccola
[edit] External links
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