The more I read, the more interesting this unique mela becomes. Another story of the pitcher of nectar, Kumbha, comes from the Garuda Purana.
The Garuda purana says that,“Sage Kashyapa has two wives, Kadru and Vinata. Kadru asked for one thousand Naga sons, while Vinata asked for just two, but each an equal to all of Kadru's thousand sons. Kadru gave birth to one thousand eggs, her 1000 Nagas, while Vinata gave birth to two eggs.
After losing a bet to Kadru through trickery, Vinata was forced to become her slave. Eager for redemption, impatiently broke one of her eggs. From this egg emerged the partially formed Aruna, looking radiant and reddish as the morning sun, but not as bright as the midday sun as he was promised to be. Aruna chided his mother Vinata for her impatience and warned her to not break open the second egg, cursing her to be a slave until his brother rescued her.
Garuda was born years later and asked his brothers (the Nagas) to free his mother from her slavery, to which they demanded Amrita from heaven. Garuda waged a war against gods, took Indra's nectar vessel and flew back to earth. Indra requested that Garuda not give the Amrita to the Nagas though, as it would bring great trouble later, so they forged a plan. Upon reaching his brothers Garuda placed the vessel before them and asked them to first purify themselves before drinking. Meanwhile, Jayanta (the son of Indra) stole the vessel back. On returning, the nagas were all devoured by Garuda.”
Every Kumbh mela is flooded with the Naga sadhus who celebrate this occasion, taking a dip in the holy waters reclaiming, savoring a drop of the elixir, nectar, they were robbed off so many years ago, by the treachery of the devas and help of Garuda.
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