“`html
PRAYAGRAJ, India — On Monday, an impressive multitude of Hindu devotees, mystics, and holy men and women converged upon the northern Indian city of Prayagraj to commence the Maha Kumbh festival, recognized as the largest religious congregation in the world.
Over the next six weeks, Hindu pilgrims will gather at the sacred meeting point of three rivers: the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the legendary Saraswati. Participants will engage in extensive rituals, aspiring to embark on a journey towards a vital aim of Hindu philosophy—the liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
This festival represents a spiritual assembly at the junction of these revered rivers, which hold immense significance for Hindus. Many believe submerging in their waters will purify them and terminate their cycle of reincarnation, especially during specific auspicious days that arise every twelve years in a festival known as the Maha Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival.
Originating in at least medieval times, the festival features ritualistic bathing by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, alongside other pilgrims at this confluence. The mythical Saraswati river is thought to have once flowed from the Himalayas to Prayagraj, uniting there with the Ganges and Yamuna.
Daily bathing occurs throughout the festival, but on particularly auspicious dates, ash-coated monks rush toward the holy rivers at dawn. Many pilgrims remain for the complete duration of the festival, practicing austerity, donating alms, and bathing at sunrise daily.
Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari, a devotee, shared, “We feel peaceful here and attain salvation from the cycles of life and death.”
The festival has deep-seated origins in Hindu tradition, recounting the tale of god Vishnu extracting a golden pitcher with the nectar of immortality from demons. It is believed that drops from it landed in Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain, and Haridwar—communities hosting the Kumbh festival for centuries.
The Kumbh rotates between these four sacred sites approximately every three years on astrology-determined dates. This year’s festival is anticipated to be the grandest thus far. A less extensive version of the festival, named Ardh Kumbh, took place in 2019 and welcomed 240 million visitors, with around 50 million participating in ritual bathing on the peak day.
Maha Kumbh is recognized as the largest of its kind, with officials expecting at least 400 million people — surpassing the entire population of the United States — to arrive in Prayagraj within the next 45 days. This figure is roughly 200 times larger than the 2 million pilgrims recorded in the previous year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca and Medina.
The festival serves as a considerable test for Indian authorities aiming to exhibit Hindu culture, tourism infrastructure, and crowd management capabilities.
Along the rivers’ banks, a vast area has been transformed into a large tent city equipped with over 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 restrooms. The city is organized into 25 segments, covering 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) and includes housing, roads, efficient electricity, water supplies, communication towers, and 11 hospitals. The tent city’s walls are adorned with murals portraying narratives from Hindu scriptures.
Indian Railways has introduced more than 90 special trains expected to make nearly 3,300 trips throughout the festival alongside standard services.
To maintain law and order, about 50,000 security personnel—an increase of 50% from 2019—are deployed in the city. Over 2,500 camera units, some utilizing artificial intelligence, will provide real-time data on crowd movements and density to central command centers, facilitating prompt action to prevent potential stampedes.
The festival presents an opportunity for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enhance his support among the country’s Hindu population, which constitutes almost 80% of India’s more than 1.4 billion citizens. Nonetheless, Modi’s administration has intertwined the festival with its promotion of Hindu nationalism. Critics argue that his political approach reflects a philosophy rooted in Hindu supremacy.
In Uttar Pradesh, where the state government is led by Adityanath—a prominent and hard-line Hindu politician—more than $765 million has been allocated for this year’s celebrations. This event serves as a platform to bolster the images of both Modi and Adityanath through extensive advertisements and posters throughout Prayagraj, showcasing their government initiatives.
The festival aims to solidify the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) reputation as a promoter of Hindu cultural symbols to strengthen its support base. However, recent Kumbh events have stirred controversies, especially following Modi’s government’s decision to change the Mughal-era name of Allahabad to Prayagraj as part of a broader nationwide strategy to replace Muslim names with Hindu ones before the 2019 elections, which his party won.
In 2021, despite a surge in COVID-19 cases, Modi’s administration opted to continue with the Kumbh festival in Haridwar, fearing dissent from influential religious leaders in a predominantly Hindu nation.
“`
