The major event of this festivity is the ritual bathing at the banks of River Kshipra. The other activities followed by devotees include religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding and assemblies with debates by doctrines.
Ghats of Religious importance
Devotees can take holy dip at any ghat during Simhastha. The ghats include Ram Ghat, Triveni Ghat, Gau Ghat, Mangalnath Ghat, Sidhawat Ghat, Kabir Ghat, Rinmukteshwar Ghat, Bhukmata Ghat, Datta Akhada Ghat, Chintaman Ghat, Prashanti Dham Ghat, Sunehri Ghat, Narsingh Ghat.
Main Simhastha Snan (Bathing) dates
1. April 22, 2016 (Friday) Purnima – Full Moon (First Snan)
2. May 6, 2016 (Friday) Vaishakh Krishna Amavasya
3. May 9, 2016 (Monday) Shukla/Akshay Tritiya (Second Snan)
4. May 11, 2016 (Wednesday) Shukla Panchami
5. May 17, 2016 (Tuesday) Ekadashi & Pradosh Snan
6. 21 May 2016 (Saturday) Purnima
Renowed writer Mark Twain once said, “It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvellous to our kind of people, the cold whites.”
It is believed that those who take royal bath in holy Shipra River on the occasion of Simhastha Kumbh Mela wash their sins of all previous births. The devotees consider it as an opportunity to get them revived from the never ending birth cycle.
