Three mythological stories often mentioned in the context of the hisorical background to the Kumbh include a popular tale about Kashyap rishi who had two wives, named Diti and Aditi. Diti gave birth to the gods, and Aditi, to demons. Latter on, in search of immortality, the gods and demons came together to churn the ocean in the belief that this would yield the magical elixir or nectar. When the churning began, the poison surfaced first, and no one was willing to drink it. However, Lord Shiva offered to drink the poison and was thence onwords known as "Neel Kanth" and "Mahadev". Then came 12 gems and, finally, the long awaited pot of Amrit or nector.

     The pot or or the pitcher is called is called Kumbh or Kalash.

     A fight broke out for the possession of pitcher between the gods and the demons. At this stage Lord Vishnu decided to intervenne and appeared before the warning parties in the guise of a beautiful dancer, Vishwa Mohini. All present were dazzled by the 'her charm'. Taking advantage of this distraction, Indra's son Jayant quietly moved away with the Amrit Kumbh. But the demons noted Jayant's surrepitious departure and went after him in hot pursuit. A fierce battle ensued for 12 days.

     During the flight, Jayant put down the pitcher at four different place- Allahabad, Nasik, Haridwar and Ujjain. A few drops of nectar fell at these places, and hence their religious significance.

     Since the fight continued for 12 days, and one day of the gods is equivalent to one year of us humans, terefore the festival is celebrated at an interval of 12 years. It is also said that when Jayant was asked by Lord Vishnu to take away the nectar, the latter also asked the Sun to protect the pitcher from breaking; the Moon to prevent nectar from falling out; and Jupiter to safeguard Jayant. Because all these three comic powers had a significant role to pay, the Kumbh is celebrated when Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon are in a particular astrological position in the almanac.

The second legend about Kumbh is about Raja Prajapati Kashyap who had two wives, Kadru and Vinta. The two had a heated argument over a trivial point, whether the colour of the horses on the Sun God's chariot is black or white. They made a bet and stakes were that the loser would serve as a slave to the other. Kadru took the help of her son, the serpent king, Nagvasuki, and with his help temporaily changed the colour of the horses from white to black. As a result, Vintra, the loser, served as a slave to Kadru. But Kadru promised that she would release her from slavery if Vinta could retrieve the pot of nectar from Naglok. Vinta's son Garud took upon himself this task, and when he succeeded in his endeavour, Indra attacked him to snatch the pitcher. During their fight, nectar fell at four places- the same as mentioned erlier-and the Kumbh is celebrated at these place.

Yet another school of thought subscribes to the mythological story revolving around Durvasa rishi. It is said that the sage once gave a necklace to Indra, who in his pride gave this necklace to his elephant, named Airavat. The elephant threw it on the ground, and stamped on it with his foot. When the sage came to know of this, he cursed Indra. The curse led to tremendous suffering and hardship all over the world. To end the misery, the gods and demons got together to churan the ocean. But when the nectar was found, the demons took it away and kept it in Naglok.

Garuda then came to the rescue of the gods, and went to Naglok to fetch the pitcher. On his way back, he put the pot down at four places where the Kumbh is celebrated now. Although the details vary in these three versions, the basic facts with regard to the churning of the ocean and the fight between the gods and demons, or evil and good, are common.

The astrological basis of the Kumbh also finds a mention whenever this fair is in the offing. As far as Kumbh at Prayag is concerned, it is celebrated when Jupiter is in Aries. As Jupiter takes about 12 years to complete a circle around the Sun, the Kumbh comes after an interval of 12 years. But the exact cycle of Jupiter is II years, IO months and nine days, and thus the seventh Kumbh is held after agap of only II years instead of the usual 12. For example, after the Kumbh of 1954, the next was held in the scheduling of the Kumbh, are the Sun and the Moon. The Sun and the Moon are in the Capricorn zodiac during Kumbh at Prayag.

It is interesting to note that though Kumbh is a zodiac sign in itself, neither Jupiter nor the Sun or the Moon is in the Kumbh zodiac. Also the zodiac sign for these three is totally different for the four different Kumbhs, and it is only in the Haridwar Kumbh that Jupiter is in the Kumbh zodiac.