Mauni Amavasya 1908

On the Amavasya (new moon) of Magha, in the cold of January–February. It is the principal bathing day of the Magh Mela and Kumbh at Prayagraj. This year's date is shown above.

The day's name is from mauna, silence, linked to Manu and to the muni whose stilled speech reflects a stilled mind. A day without speech rests and turns the mind inward, deepening the merit of the bath and japa.

Prayag is the tirtha-raja, where Ganga, Yamuna and the unseen Saraswati meet, and the new moon of Magha is held the most auspicious day to bathe there — the spiritual peak of the Magh Mela and the Kalpavas.

Yes. A bath in any sacred river, or with Ganga-jal at home, together with the mauna vrat, til-daan, tarpan for the ancestors and silent japa, is the observance where the Sangam is out of reach.