The world’s largest religious gathering begins in India

The world’s largest human gathering is underway in India with the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela, a celebration held once every 12 years.

Over the next six weeks, millions of Hindu pilgrims, mystics and holy men are expected at the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj, where pilgrims will bathing in the waters believed to cleanse the soul and purify the spirit.

Organisers are expecting around 400 million visitors, making this the world’s biggest religious festival.

Pilgrims flock from all corners of the country to participate in this millennia-old tradition, hoping to cleanse their sins and break free from the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth. Hindus believe that a dip in the sacred waters brings salvation and liberation.

While bathing takes place daily throughout the 45 days, it’s the auspicious “Mela” days, when the faithful believe the rivers are especially potent, that see the largest crowds. During these sacred moments, naked, ash-smeared sadhus (holy men) charge toward the river banks at dawn to take their ritual dips. Many devotees stay for the entire festival, observing austerity and bathing every morning.

The Kumbh Mela is held in rotation at four sites across India, with the largest event, Maha Kumbh, occurring once every 12 years in Prayagraj. The most recent event, the Ardh Kumbh (Half Kumbh), took place in 2019, drawing a “mere” 240 million people, with 50 million taking part on the busiest day.

This year, authorities are expecting a crowd of at least 400 million – more than the population of the United States, and around 200 times the two million pilgrims that arrived in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage last year. The scale of the event is so vast it can even be seen from space.

Organising such a massive event is no small feat. In preparation, the city has been transformed into a sprawling tent city, with more than 3,000 kitchens, 150,000 toilets, and over 90 special trains to ferry pilgrims to and from the event.

The festival grounds cover 40 square kilometres and include housing, roads, electricity, water, and communication towers. There are also 11 hospitals on-site to provide medical care for the tens of millions attending.

Security is also a pressing issue, with around 50,000 security personnel deployed to ensure crowd control and safety. The authorities are using more than 2,500 surveillance cameras, including AI-powered ones, to monitor the crowds and avoid potential stampedes.

“We feel peaceful here and attain salvation from the cycles of life and death,” Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari, a pilgrim who had made the sacred journey to Prayagraj, told The Associated Press.

The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology, where the god Vishnu is said to have wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. According to Hindu belief, a few drops of this nectar fell in four cities – Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain, and Haridwar – which have since become the traditional sites of the festival.

On Monday, the first day of the Mela, a staggering 10 million people had already taken part in the sacred bath by noon. By Tuesday, officials expect that number to exceed 20 million, setting the stage for a festival unlike any other.

The festival is also of political significance, as well as spiritual. India’s past leaders have long used the Kumbh Mela to build stronger ties with the country’s Hindu majority, which makes up nearly 80% of India’s 1.4 billion people. But under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the festival has taken on an even more significant role, becoming a key part of his government’s promotion of Hindu nationalism.

For Modi and his party, the idea that Indian civilisation is deeply intertwined with Hinduism is central to their vision. However, critics argue that this philosophy has more to do with promoting Hindu supremacy than celebrating religious unity.