The colours of Kumbh: With his wisdom and gold worth Rs 4.66 crore, this Baba could put Bappi Lahri to shame

The Simhasth Kumbh Mahaparv 2016, in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh saw myth, mystics and a huge array of colours, but it also saw characters. And one such character was the Baba who adorned multiple kilos of gold to please the deities.

“I do not wear gold, because I like it, I wear gold because the deities like it” says Sudhir Kumar Makkad, aka Golden Baba. A cloth merchant in New Delhi, he took sanyas(renunciation) and dedicated his life to his guru and lord Shiva. He now walks to the shrines of Lord Shiva to please him. The fascinating part is that he walks to all those places with the 15.5 kilos of gold.

Heavy rings, a huge arm band, lockets and the baba gleams from a distance. Some lucky folks get blessings via the gold itself. The baba even takes the holy dip in rivers with the gold on.

“I have been wearing gold since about 1972 to 1973. It used to cost about Rs 200-250 per carat. Today gold stands at about 30,000 thousand rupees. But I don’t consider it expensive, I consider it my following, my deity.”

To someone who can turn heads, at any given point, here’s the 6th episode of Colours Of Kumbh, a Firstpost Original Documentary Web Series on the plethora of emotions, that was Kumbh.

Read the previous parts of the series here

Part 1: The colours of Kumbh: Organising the globe’s largest festival ain’t an easy job Part 2: The colours of Kumbh: A search for knowledge and salvation Part 3: Watch: Devotion hits a new high at Ujjain Kumbh, thanks to a 121-feet-long agarbatti Part 4: The colours of Kumbh: At 30,000 feet up in the sky, this pilot met God Part 5: The colours of Kumbh: Watch the amazing story of ‘Kalash’ baba