Tens of millions of Hindus are gathering in the largest pilgrimage of all time, which began this week in .
Devotees, tourists, politicians and celebrities are expected to take a dip at the confluence of two holy rivers. The Maha Kumbh Mela religious festival is held every 12 years on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj.
Authorities this year expect up to 400 million people to visit the site in the state of Uttar Pradesh over the next six weeks.
As part of this year’s preparations, the state has built a temporary camp on an area of 10,000 acres, with tens of thousands of tents and bathrooms, roads, parking lots, water and electricity infrastructure and thousands of security cameras.
The last celebration in 2013 brought 120 million people to Prayagraj, according to a government estimate and in 2019 240 million people.
What is Maha Kumbh Mela?
The Maha Kumbh Mela or “great festival of the holy pitcher” is the largest religious ceremony in the world. Based on a Hindu myth, in which demons and gods battle over a jug that carries the nectar of immortality, the centuries-old ceremony centers around a series of sacred baths, which Hindus believe cleanse their sins.
The holy baths are preceded by processions involving people singing and dancing on elaborately decorated chariots and holding ceremonial spears, tridents and swords.
photo. AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh
