Mill in Kolhapur prepares 750-foot wick for Kumbh Mela

A textile mill in Kolhapur has prepared a 750-feet-long cotton wick for the Kumbh Mela in Nashik, which starts on July 14. The wick, christened Vishwashanti Jyot (flame for world peace), is made of pure cotton at the Deshbhakta Rantappanna Kumbhar Shirol Backwardclass Cooperative Cotton Mill.
Ashokrao Mane, the founder and chairman of the mill, said, “We were asked to prepare the wick for the Kumbh Mela; the wick will last for 108 days.It will be sent to Nashik by July 10.”
The mill at Tamdalge village, near Jaysinghpur town of Shirol tehsil, is one of the oldest and renowned cotton mills in the district.
Former social welfare minister Babanrao Gholap is a close friend of Mane. “Gholap had approached me, along with another organising committee member Himalay Baba, for the wick. I decided to provide it free of cost for the event. The decision to make the wick was taken in the first week of June and by July 6, we were ready with it,” Mane said.
“The organisers wanted that the wick be of one long thread from end to end. We undertook a special production drive at our mill where the entire cotton was used to create one long thread and it was later folded multiple times to create the wick,” he added.
The mill has spent Rs 2.25 lakh on cotton purchase alone for the wick. It is three inch in width and required 300kg cotton. There is a huge lotus shape structure, which will hold the wick, for which sesame oil will be used as fuel.