Brenna K. McDuffie ’15, a South Asian Studies concentrator who took Eck’s class, had never conducted formal research before going on the trip.

“Being part of this greater research group, regardless of what you’re studying, what your interests are, how much background you have on the Kumbh...for me, that was just an amazing experience,” said McDuffie, who conducted research on cultural performances and other religious rituals. “I think any Harvard student would have benefited from that.”

McDuffie and other undergraduates were given a great deal of freedom to suit their on-site research to their own academic and personal interests, Eck said.

“We [allowed] them free reign to develop their own interests in what they imagined would be their end...then to track it down once we got there,” Eck said.

Students from some of the graduate schools, however, approached their research at the Kumbh Mela from a somewhat different standpoint—one that focused on specific projects that were directly relevant to their professional studies and that often had real-world applications in India.

The Graduate School of Design team, for example, mapped the festival’s city using both two- and three-dimensional media to explore issues of urban design.

Likewise, Nicolas J. Roth, a graduate student in the Department of South Asian Studies, focused his research at the Kumbh Mela on environment and developmental organizations—a topic he said was closely tied to his ongoing academic research on South Asian religious rituals associated with trees.

“I was particularly looking at some of the campaigns around trees, tree planting, and tree preservation,” said Roth.

LOOKING FORWARD

Though they are now back in Cambridge, researchers say their work on the Kumbh Mela is far from finished.

The Graduate School of Design research team, for example, currently meets once every week to discuss its work in a seminar format.

The team also plans to give a public presentation on its research in the first week of April.

Those who took Eck’s class last fall will write research papers based on their work at the Kumbh Mela. And at Sunday’s meeting, researchers will reunite to further discuss their ideas.

“We will be doing a collective presentation and hope our work can be used in future collaborative projects,” said Rachel M. Taylor ’15, who focused her field research on the market flow of marigolds, roses, and chrysanthemums at the Kumbh Mela.

Using this meeting as a starting point, many of the researchers from the different professional schools will go over their work together in the coming months.

The project is expected to continue into the summer and perhaps even beyond.