Group of ascetics mark symbolic beginning of Kumbh Mela in Haridwar

The Uttarakhand government may not have issued a notification yet on the Kumbh Mela but the ascetics of Ganga Sabha on Thursday symbolically declared the event open by pitching in their flag called 'Dharma Dhwaja' at Har ki Pairi.

The Dharma Dhwaja of Goddess Ganga was pitched in ceremoniously amid Vedic rituals at Brahma Kund, Har ki Pairi to mark the formal beginning of the congregation.

''Though Kumbh Mela virtually began on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, without installation of the Dharma Dhwaja of Goddess Ganga, the event was looking incomplete,'' Ganga Sabha president Pradeep Jha said.

Earlier, the ascetics, seers and teerth purohits of Ganga Sabha took out an impressive 'Shobha Yatra' through the main thoroughfares of Haridwar and were accorded a resounding welcome by residents.