Ten auspicious dates for the holy dip have been announced as per the lunar calendar for the Ardh Kumbh Mela slated to begin on January 1. The Ganga Sabha representatives had given a list of dates to the Mela officials a month ago and the Mela Adhikari has put his stamp on them on Tuesday. The first snan would be on the day of Makar Sankranti which falls on January 14 and the last one would be on 14 April, the day of Baisakhi festival. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to come to the holy city to take the holy dip in the Ganga and administration and police have put into place all the arrangements to ensure that things go off peacefully.
Kumbh Mela comes at the time when Sun, Jupiter and Moon have specific constellation on the Hindu Sidereal zodiac. In Hardwar, it is held in the months of Phalgun and Chaitra (Febr-uary/March/April) when the Sun passes to Aries and Jupiter is in Aquarius.
There is, however, no tradition of Shahi snan during the Ardh Kumbh Mela. This time Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad was mulling over the possibility of introducing Shahi snan, but a unanimous decision could not have evolved.
As per the official website of Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, updated on June 4 2015, nine snan dates are listed. However, Somvati Amavasya Snan slated in February is conspicuous by its absence in the list.