The secret of eternal youth

January 12 marked the beginning of the month-long annual Kumbh Mela this year. Every 12 years, the Maha Kumbh Mela, Parva, takes place in ro...

January 12 marked the beginning of the month-long annual Kumbh Mela this year. Every 12 years, the Maha Kumbh Mela, Parva, takes place in rotation at Prayag (Allahabad), Hardwar, Ujjain and Nasik. The preparations for this year’s celebration put me in mind of an incident that took place at the Kumbh held in 1953 at the Triveni, on the banks of the Ganga at Allahabad, where I happened to be the military Station Commander of this ancient city. In those days the Army was invariably called in for making all the administrative arrangements for the Kumbh Mela. My residence was seven miles away from the Allahabad Fort, which is said to be located on the confluence point of the Triveni. And there, in the course of a single night, I was able to put paid to a legend that went back to hoary antiquity.

I was fast asleep when my telephone rang at two in the morning. An extremely agitated Fort Commander was on the other end of the line. The reason for his excitement soon became evident, for he had been faced with asituation that his military training could never have prepared him for. It appeared that four sandhus in saffron had arrived at the gates of the Fort and were demanding to be let in. To complicate matters, they also wanted permission to bring in the branch of a banyan tree which they were carrying.

I was as perturbed as the commander, because the Fort was a security area and we couldn’t have people walking in in the wee hours carrying strange goods and chattels. Trying to find a way out, I asked him why the sadhus couldn’t come back with their branch in the morning like normal people. The commander had already thought of that very reasonable option. He informed me that, according to the sadhus, it was essential that they get in with the branch before sunrise. They had to be through with their business before the crowds started coming in. I told the Fort Commander that I could not give them permission to enter the Fort under any circumstances. The matter would have to be investigated in the morning, I said,and left it at that.

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At nine the next morning, I was summoned to the phone by HQ, Eastern Command at Ranchi. The GOC-in-C wanted to give me a piece of his mind. He appeared to be rattling with fury as he ordered me to place myself under house arrest. I asked for the grounds and was told that I had committed a grave indiscretion. I had interfered with a century-old religious tradition of the Kumbh Mela. A court of inquiry was being ordered. To say the least, I was completely taken by surprise.

Gradually, the truth began to emerge. At the site of the Triveni in the grounds of the Fort, there was an old banyan tree. The story goes that its roots originated from the tree of trees at Bodh Gaya. The tree in the Fort was evergreen, always young, and thus was of great religious significance to the devotees of the Kumbh. They came in their thousands to pay their respects to this tree, which is known as the `Akshiabad’, meaning everlastingly fresh.

It appears that at the Kumbh every 12 years, in the dark of thenight, it was customary for a new sapling to be grafted to the dry stump of an old tree located at the holy spot, so as to give it the appearance of everlasting youth. In my total ignorance, I had prevented this vital ritual from being performed. My crime was that I had destroyed the ancient legend of the `Akshiabad’ and the religious belief that went with it. I pleaded not guilty to the charge, but was nevertheless censured for my indiscretion by the authorities. I wonder if, 45 years after I apparently destroyed it, the legend of the `Akashiabad’ is still around at the Kumbh in all its everlasting freshness.