Burning Man / Kumbha Mela

In addition to partaking in Burning Man in August 2007, this last January I had the privilege of spending a week at the Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, India. In the grand scale of things the Kumbha Mela is a much bigger festival (30 million Hindu peasants attend) while like Burning Man it was an absolute feast for the eyes. Being that I don't speak a word of Hindi, I largely engaged the Kumbha Mela through my camera--and the Indians I met so enjoyed posing, much as decked out burners do. Rather than theme camps, the Kumba Mehla features temple sites. And these temples follow a parallel practice to the gifting that occurs at Burning Man by distributing prasad, food offerings.

While the Kumbha Mela did not feature the dramatic pyrotechnics of Burning Man, the event was punctuated by a series of baths in the Ganges River. Like Burning Man's ritual burns, these baths were well attended. What follows is a series of photographs that note the parallels between these two festivals.