Juna Akhara
In the 5th century B.C., India's greatest philosopher and commentator on sacred texts, Adi Shankara, organized the lineages of shamans, yogis and ascetics into India's first monastic order, the Order of the Sannyasis of the Ten Names (Dasnami Sannyasi) which exists until this day.
In the 7th century A.D., 52 lineages within the Order of Sannyasis formalized their age-old network into an elite brotherhood, a society, that became known as Juna Akhara, or the "Ancient Circle".
This festival is held in highest regard as the ritual bath in the sacred water on this day saturated with flower & incense fragrance amidst chanting of vedic hyms and mantras liberates one from all suffering and miseries of life . The Kumbh Mela considered the most sacred and greatest of india festivals where the ceremonial dip in the Holy river is an important ritual. It is belived that bathing on the auspicious days cleanses one of all sins and attains Moksha (meaning liberation from the cycle of life, Death and Rebirth).
Source: http://rampuri.com/about/juna-akhara & http://www.up-tourism.com/mahakumbh.htm
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