Ujjain: The Kumbh Mela may be open to saint and sinner but Ujjain has welcomed its version of the event by banning liquor and the city’s army of sex workers.
Liquor cannot be sold here till the Simhastha, which began today, ends on May 21, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced last night. He made an exception for the city’s Kal Bhairav temple, where pilgrims offer alcohol to the deity.
Two counters, for local and foreign liquor respectively, will continue to sell 180ml bottles to devotees.# The Ujjain Simhastha is one of the four legs of the Kumbh, each occurring by rotation every 12 years, the other three being the Kumbhs at Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayag) and Nashik.
In recent years, the district administration has driven out dozens of sex workers – the so-called “nautch girls” – from the city’s red-light zone, Pinjarwadi, The Telegraph reported.
“The civic body used to issue licences to these girls but the crackdown began after (then chief minister) Uma Bharati declared Ujjain a holy city (in 2004),” a resident, Laxman Patel, said.
“But the sex workers continued to function discreetly. This time the clandestine trade has been stopped too. The tablas and ghungroos fell silent a month ago.”
Privately, some residents rued the crackdown on a trade that had flourished here since Peshwa Baji Rao’s time almost 300 years ago.
Ujjain had banished the sex workers when it hosted the previous Simhastha in 2004, too. The rows of houses lining the Mirza Naim Beg Marg had then stood locked, carrying a declaration scribbled in white chalk: ” Yahan grihini rahti hain (Housewives live here).”
Ujjain has the third-highest number of HIV-positive people in Madhya Pradesh after Indore and Dhar. The state AIDS Control Society has set up a stall at the Simhastha offering antiretroviral therapy, counselling, contraceptives and free tests.
“It’s because of the huge influx of pilgrims,” an official said. About 5 crore people are expected.
Dips in the Kshipra river during Simhastha are said to wash away all sins. Three dates – April 22, May 9 and May 21 – have been earmarked for the auspicious shahi snan (royal dip), where monks from the leading akharas (monasteries) take the lead.
Simhastha 2016 opened today with the first shahi snan just after midnight. An unusually high participation of women and the transgender community marked the event, once the preserve largely of sadhus and male devotees.
The Shaivas took the first dip, followed by Naga (naked) sadhus. Many of the top sadhus came in chariots. A lone transgender, wearing a sari with jewellery and make-up, walked in the middle of the powerful Nirmohi Akhara’s procession.
The transgender community, which has formed a Kinnar Akhara with members from 22 states, has for the first time been officially allotted space for a camp on the Kshipra’s banks.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh took a dip at a quieter spot about 1km from the bustling Ram Ghat, main venue of the shahi snan. “I’m a regular at all Kumbh Melas,” he said.