Millions of Hindu devotees have joined the world’s largest religious gathering at a holy city in northern India, bathing in its sacred waters in a spectacle of color and devotion.
A staggering 400 million people are expected to attend the Maha Kumbh Mela, or the festival of the Sacred Pitcher, which began January 13 and runs until February 26 in the city of Prayagraj.
Safety concerns over the sheer number of people concentrated in one place were heightened last month following a fatal crowd crush at the festival. However, throngs of people have continued to gather in the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of three holy rivers – the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati – to purify their sins and take another step closer to “spiritual liberation.”
Every 12 years the…
