9 Times Indian Religious Festivals Became A Deathtrap For Innocent Lives

Studies suggest that breathing the contaminated air of a metropolis in India is more or less equivalent to smoking anywhere between 15 to 20 cigarettes. Yet we look beyond this alarming info and spend thousands on extremely harmful, and cancerous fire crackers, heavily contributing to the number of lives it puts in danger. While we hope this coming Diwali is different, only a few are actually seen trying to make a difference.

Here are 9 examples how a religious festival can very easily be the reason for the loss of innocent lives.

1. Maha Pushkaralu Festival, Andhra Pradesh, July 2015

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Over Rs 1500 crores were spent by the Andhra government for the 12-day festival of 'Maha Pushkaralu'. Supposed to happen only once every 144 years, based on astronomical calculations, this festival was understandably of very high importance among the believers. Sadly however, the banks of river Godavari turned into a brutal death trap when 27 people, most of them elderly women, died in a morning stampede on the first day of the festival. Tragedy struck when a woman fell down in a crowd that was pushing through a narrow entrance to the ghat just minutes after it was opened to the general public. Nearly three crore people reportedly attended the twelve day festival that coincided with the beginning of the larger Kumbh Mela festival that took place in Nashik this year. Even though the Andhra government, and the police authorities were aware of the number of people coming down for the event, they were clearly not prepared to handle a crowd of such magnitude, eventually resulting in unfortunate loss of lives.

2. Navratri, Madhya Pradesh, October 2013

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On October 13, 2015, disaster struck in the Datia district of Madhya Pradesh during the yearly celebration of Navratri. About 5,00,000 people had congregated at Ratangarh Mata temple. Around 9 in the morning, around 25,000 people were on the bridge that needed to be crossed for the temple. A section of the bridge's railing broke when a rumour spread that the bridge was about to collapse. You can imagine the chaos that was to follow. The crowd panicked and began pushing their way off the bridge. More than 110 people came out injured, approximately 115 didn't come out at all (actual number of the death toll was reportedly somewhere around 400). Most were killed in the stampede while there were quite a few who drowned after jumping off the bridge into the swelling Sindh river. Most of those who lost their lives were women and children.

Two years down the line, people are still unsure about what actually could've caused the breakout. One report said the rumour of the bridge's impending collapse began when a section of the railing broke, but another said the bridge had been hit by a tractor before the stampede. Some said a group of pilgrims intentionally spread the rumour, hoping to cut the long line, while some witnesses said the stampede started when the police charged into the crowd wielding canes. The allegation was denied by police officials.

3. Mahashivratri, Junagadh, February 2012

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Two men, three women, and a child lost their lives because of a stampede on the 19th of February, 2012 at the Junagadh's Bhavnath fair during Mahashivratri. More than two dozen people were also injured after a bus caused a traffic jam in the area that couldn't be resolved for hours. Over a million devotees attend the five-day fair, making it Gujrat's largest annual mass gathering. At the time the stampede broke out there were reportedly around 9 lakh people at the fair. Not undermining those who lost their lives and the thirty odd who were left injured, but the death toll could've very well been higher, very easily.

4. Makara Jyoti, Sabarimala, January 2011

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Pilgrims were returning from a Hindu shrine on 14th of Januray 2011, the last day of the Makara Jyoti festival which attracts millions every year, when a stampede broke out at Pullumedu near Sabarimala in Kerala. Various media agencies had various accounts of what went down at eight at night when the devotees were on their way back down the hill. An SUV (possibly broken down) had reportedly blocked the path. When it moved, it might have caused people to stumble over, triggering the stampede. There is another report which said a large number of people were running down the hill towards the road which was already packed with vehicles. Some even say it was because of an accident between an autorickshaw and a jeep. The real reason still remains a mystery since the spot where the stampede broke out, which eventually injured 100 and killed 106, is an open field.

5. Navratri, Jodhpur, 2008

What could've been another day of celebrations during the festival of Navratri, turned into a horrific story of death because of a stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple at the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur on 30th September 2008. About 25,000 pilgrims had gathered by the time the door to the temple opened. Pushing and shoving resulted in the destructions of the barricades laid out for the public. The path leading to the temple was very narrow, without any emergency exists laid out for the thousands gathered. More than 425 people very injured, and over 224 died a tragic death.

Again, there were various reasons reported for the stampede to break out. Local reports suggested that a bomb blast nearby caused the crowd to panic, while BBC reported that a collapsing wall may have also played a part. Some eyewitnesses told the media that a rumour of a bomb planted in the temple made the pilgrims lose their calm, while some also said that some devotees in the men's queue had slipped which resulted in the massive stampede. Extremely unfortunate.

6. Jagannath Yatra, Orissa, 2008

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The Rath Yatra is a massive event in the temple town of Puri, which attracts a crowd of multiple lakhs every year. The police say there were about 5,00,000 people on that fateful day. During the main event of the chariot festival a stampede broke out which killed at least six, and left dozens injured. Graphic CCTV footage of the incident emerged which showed a limp woman in a pink saree somehow being pulled out of the crowd and carried away on a stretcher.

7. Mandher Devi annual pilgrimage, Maharashtra, 2005

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Very possibly one of the worst man-made disaster's of the country where hundreds were crushed and burned to death in an electrical fire and a stampede. Over 3,00,000 people converged on the hill-top Mandher Devi temple for the annual pilgrimage in the small town of Wai. According to the account of the witnesses, the stampede began around midday when some pilgrims lost their footing on the climb, which had become wet from broken coconuts. This was followed by a fire which broke out in shops nearby and gas cylinders exploded. Hundreds were crushed to death on the steep and narrow hill, while the others were charred. About 350 people died from the mishap and hundreds more left injured.

8. Kumbh Mela, Nashik, 2003

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Almost every Indian is aware of how monstrous Kumbh Melas tend to get, population wise. Things can go really bad really fast, in a place like the Kumbh. Just like on August 27th, 2003 when the Kumbh was happening in Nashik near the Godavari river. The incident claimed the lives of around 40 devotees while injuring 125 more when people had gathered to take the holy bath.

9. Mahakumbh Mela, Allahabad, 1954

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The 1954 Mahakumbh disaster was perhaps the worst in the country as far as the loss of lives are concerned. It was the main bathing day at the Mahakumbh. During those days, the politicians would take advantage of the gathering of lakhs at the Kumbh, and to make the event all the more special, this was also the first Kumbh after India's independence.

The blame shouldn't be directed towards the authorities for failing to control the crowd because the holy river of Ganga had also changed its course and moved closer towards the embankment, and the city. This reduced the space available for people, making it more restricted. A surge of crowd eventually broke through the barriers resulting in a stampede where more that 800 people died, and over 2000 were injured in some way or the other. PM Jawaharlal Nehru condemned the tragedy and suggested that politicians and VIPs may not visit the Kumbh Mela in the future. Right now, Kumbh is the largest gathering of people in the world with over 100 million people attending.

These festivals are as dangerous as we are. A little bit of caution, and better management by us could've saved all the lives that were lost in the tragedies mentioned above.