Nude bathers nabbed at Kumbh fest
2001-01-10 12:42
Allahabad - Inspired by tens of thousands of naked sadhus, two foreign female
visitors to India's Kumbh Mela pilgrimage took a nude dip in the
Ganges, and promptly found themselves in police custody.
"There were two women, one of them from Mexico, and they both
appeared to be intoxicated," said Senior Superintendent of Police
Alok Sharma.
"Some women constables pulled them out of the water, put blankets
around them and told them to get dressed," Sharma told AFP.
The two women apparently argued that they were only following the
example of the Nagas (the unclothed), ash-covered ascetics who
never wear clothes and are the most revered of all India's sadhu
(holy man) sects.
The sadhus have been leading the bathing rituals at the 42-day Maha
Kumbh Mela (Great Kumbh Fair), which began in the northern town of
Allahabad on Tuesday and is expected to draw some 70 million Hindu
devotees.
"The Nagas are an exception," Sharma explained.
"Their nakedness is an expression of their religion and therefore
causes no offence to anyone.
"This does not extend to other groups, or foreign visitors, whether
they be male or female," he said.
- Sapa-AFP
- SAPA