The World’s Largest Pilgrimage Is a Stage for India’s Hindu Right
For Narendra Modi, the Maha Kumbh Mela is a unique opportunity to double down on religiosity in government.
Illustration: Maggie Cowles for Bloomberg
Two weeks ago, I visited my neighborhood temple at the southern edge of New Delhi, where I haven’t worshipped since I was a child reluctantly accompanying my father. I was startled to find a lifelike statue of the former religious head, Swami Pragyanand, in a glass vitrine alongside idols of various deities and the temple’s main holy figure, Shirdi Sai Baba, a spiritual master revered by both Hindus and Muslims.
The last time I had seen Swami Pragyanand was at my father’s funeral, almost a decade ago. I didn’t know that he had passed away during the pandemic. I paid my respects to his statue, with its open eyes and disconcertingly realistic expression. When I asked about the temple’s current head, I was shown a picture of the new leader, a woman, Sadhvi Vibhanand Giri.