Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Hoists Its Simhastha Flag on 31 October 2026, Haridwar Opens Its Kumbh on 14 January 2027 and Ujjain on 27 March 2028, the Next Three Kumbh Melas After Prayagraj

At 12:02 pm on 31 October 2026, the Simhastha flag is scheduled to go up at Ramkund in Nashik, which opens the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela that runs until 24 July 2028. Haridwar’s Kumbh follows from 14 January to 20 April 2027, and Ujjain’s Simhastha from 27 March to 27 May 2028, according to the chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

All three belong to the festival that UNESCO put on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. The most recent edition, at Prayagraj from 13 January to 26 February 2025, was put at more than 66 crore devotees in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s account of 26 February 2025. How that figure was counted is set out in tuput’s piece on the Maha Kumbh numbers.

Four rivers, one rotation

India’s nomination file to UNESCO says the Kumbh Mela is celebrated four times every 12 years, rotating between Allahabad (now Prayagraj), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. The rivers are the Ganga at Haridwar, the Shipra at Ujjain, the Godavari at Nashik, and at Prayagraj the Ganga and Yamuna with the Saraswati, which the file calls mythical.

Devotees hold that when the ocean was churned, gods and demons fought over the amrit, the nectar of immortality, and drops fell at Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s document gives this as the reason the festival is held at these four places, and says the timing of each Mela depends on the positions of the Sun, Moon and Jupiter.

The nomination file adds two rules. An Ardh (“half”) Kumbh is held only at Haridwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. At Nashik and Ujjain the Kumbh falls when Jupiter is in Leo, Simha in Hindu astrology, which is why it is called Simhastha. The Nashik district website says Jupiter takes about 12 years to go round the zodiac and puts the last Simhastha there in 2015 to 2016. Ujjain’s last Simhastha was in 2016, and the state’s June 2026 workshop on the 2028 plans was titled around that experience, so both cities are due again 12 years later.

Nashik-Trimbakeshwar: a flag in October 2026, three main bathing days in 2027

Maharashtra announced the calendar on 1 June 2025, at a meeting in Nashik chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and attended by seers from all 13 main akhadas (monastic orders of ascetics), PTI reported. The first Amrit Snan, the ritual bath that the akhadas take first, falls on Monday 2 August 2027, a new-moon day (Ashadh Somvati Amavasya). The second is on 31 August 2027, and the third on 11 September 2027 at Nashik and 12 September at Trimbakeshwar. A city procession, the Nagar Pradakshina, is set for 29 July 2027.

IANS adds that the Maharashtra release lists 44 more auspicious bathing times (muhurtas) at Nashik and 53 at Trimbakeshwar, and treats the Ekadashi, Purnima and Amavasya days of the whole period as pilgrimage days. The flag-hoisting on 31 October will be at Ramkund, with rites at Kushavart Tirtha in Trimbakeshwar, the Free Press Journal reported on 20 September 2026.

Fadnavis accepted a suggestion from Mahant Rajendradas Maharaj to call the akhadas’ bath Amrut Snan rather than Shahi Snan, as at Prayagraj. He said the bathing dates were published early so that devotees need not rush to particular days, and he asked them to spread their visits over the long period.

The two Nashik-area sites have their own rule. According to the Nashik district website, Vaishnava akhadas bathe at Nashik while Shaiva and Udasin akhadas bathe at Trimbakeshwar, an arrangement it credits to the Peshwas after clashes between ascetics of the two sects. At Prayagraj, Haridwar and Ujjain the groups bathe together. The same page says the Godavari rises on the Brahmagiri hills at Trimbakeshwar. See also tuput’s profile of Maharashtra.

The law behind Nashik’s preparations

Maharashtra Act XXXIII of 2025 created the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority. It was first published after the Governor’s assent in the Gazette on 10 July 2025, replacing an ordinance of 4 June 2025. The Authority has 22 members, chaired by the Commissioner of Nashik Division, and includes the district collector, senior police officers, the municipal commissioner, the state transport corporation and a nominee of the Railway Board. The Kumbh Mela Commissioner, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, is its member-secretary.

The Act lets the Authority prepare a Kumbh Mela Plan, give administrative approval for works, supervise tenders and decide how assets built for the Mela are used afterwards. Its chairperson can direct government departments in the division on traffic, crowds and resources, and the Authority must report every month to a Committee of Ministers. Fadnavis said in March 2025 that the law was modelled on Uttar Pradesh’s.

The money has come in stages. At the June 2025 meeting the Nashik divisional commissioner said tenders worth more than Rs 4,000 crore had been issued, according to IANS. On 10 September 2026 the state released Rs 1,800 crore, the balance of a Rs 3,000 crore supplementary demand passed in the monsoon session, and PTI reported that it may be spent only on works that have administrative and technical approval, with utilisation certificates due after spending.

Haridwar: 14 January to 20 April 2027

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced the dates on 28 November 2025, after the All India Akhara Parishad finalised the schedule at a meeting with him in Haridwar. There are ten bathing days. Three are Amrit Snan days: Mahashivratri on 6 March, Phalguna Amavasya on 8 March and Mesha Sankranti on 14 April, according to PTI.

The sources disagree on the name. PTI calls the event the Ardh Kumbh, and the nomination file says an Ardh Kumbh is held at Haridwar every sixth year. The Deccan Chronicle calls it the Haridwar Kumbh. Dhami said it will be celebrated as grandly as a Purna (full) Kumbh and that sadhus will take the royal bath in an Ardh Kumbh for the first time, and he expected attendance many times that of the 2010 and 2021 Kumbhs. No number was given.

The works have an October 2026 deadline for permanent construction, Mela Officer Sonika said in November 2025, as ETV Bharat reported. ETV Bharat reported three new bridges in the Mela area and a state request to the Centre for more than Rs 2,000 crore. On 9 February 2026 Dhami ordered an audit of all bridges, the beautification and rebuilding of ghats including Har Ki Pauri with bathing facilities, an anti-encroachment drive on pathways, and timely land allotment to akhadas, IANS reported. The state’s profile is at Uttarakhand at a glance.

Ujjain: 27 March to 27 May 2028

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav told a workshop in Ujjain on 27 June 2026 that the Simhastha runs from 27 March to 27 May 2028 on the Shipra’s banks, and that about 40 crore devotees are expected. He said projects worth more than Rs 25,000 crore are under way in Ujjain and the surrounding districts, the Deccan Chronicle reported. A state release reported by PTI in January 2024 put the expected number at about 12 crore. Neither statement says how its figure was reached.

Yadav listed 29 km of new ghats on both banks of the Shipra at Rs 778 crore, 7.8 km of existing ghats being upgraded for Rs 120 crore, 22 new bridges and road widening at Rs 853.46 crore, a Central Digital Command Centre at Rs 139 crore for crowds, traffic and emergencies, and a six-lane Ujjain-Indore highway of about Rs 1,692 crore that is nearing completion.

The state budget for 2025 to 2026 set aside Rs 2,000 crore for the Simhastha, Finance Minister Jagdish Devda said in March 2025. The IANS report of that budget also lists a 1.76 km ropeway from the railway station to the Mahakaleshwar Temple at Rs 199 crore. No state release naming Ujjain’s individual bathing days was among the pages reviewed for this article. See also Madhya Pradesh at a glance.

What UNESCO asked of India in 2017

The Intergovernmental Committee met on Jeju Island in December 2017 and found that India’s nomination met all five criteria for inscription. UNESCO’s listing says the main bearers of the element are members of akhadas and ashrams and people who live on alms, and that the teacher-student relationship among sadhus is the most important way the knowledge is passed on. The nomination file also names the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust of Nashik and the Ganga Sabha of Haridwar among the bodies that help run the festival. Another Indian festival on the same list is Durga Puja in Kolkata.

The Committee encouraged India to consider, in its safeguarding plans, risks to the festival from tourism and rising visitor numbers, including effects on the environment. It also invited India to avoid terms such as “intact” and “purest form”, which it said conflict with a living tradition.

Where the three states stand

Fadnavis said in March 2025 that infrastructure work in Nashik was behind schedule but improving, according to PTI. By 20 September 2026 the district administration was speeding up works around Ramkund, Ramkal Path and Kushavart Tirtha, the Free Press Journal reported. Haridwar’s deadline for permanent works is October 2026.

The Simhastha flags at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar are due to come down on 24 July 2028.