Latest Photos From Prayagraj A Day Ahead Of Kumbh Mela
Updated: January 14, 2019 14:25 IST
Pilgrims from across the world are gathering for the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, a heady mix of spirituality, politics and tourism that begins tomorrow. During the eight-week festival, authorities expect up to 150 million people, including a million foreign visitors, to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.
On Tuesday, millions of pilgrims, led by naked, ash-smeared ascetics, some of whom live in caves, will plunge themselves into the cold waters during the first Shahi Snan, or Royal Bath, that begins at around 4 am.
Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh Mela, or the "festival of the pot", brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.
During the eight-week festival at Prayagraj, authorities expect up to 150 million people, including a million foreign visitors, to bathe at the Sangam, or the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.
Most pilgrims make do with more modest lodgings, sleeping in big communal tents or out in the open.
Devotees take a dip on the banks of the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, as people gather for the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on January 14, 2019.
Devotees gather to take a dip on the banks of the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, for the Kumbh Mela festival.
A devotee takes a dip to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.
