PRAYAGRAJ, India — A significant congregation of Hindu devotees, mystics, and spiritual leaders has convened in Prayagraj, India, for the Maha Kumbh festival, recognized as the largest religious gathering in the world.
This festival unfolds every 12 years at the sacred confluence of notable rivers. Early Wednesday morning, a tragic stampede occurred as crowds hurried to participate in a bath ritual associated with the festival. Photos from the incident depicted families anxiously waiting at makeshift medical facilities for updates on their loved ones, while rescuers tended to the injured and law enforcement worked diligently to manage the overwhelming crowds.
The Maha Kumbh festival attracts devotees to the meeting point of three holy rivers, primarily the Ganges and the Yamuna, both highly revered in Hindu belief. It is believed that immersing oneself in these waters purifies individuals of their past misdeeds and halts the cycle of reincarnation, especially on selected auspicious days. The festival consists of various ritual baths performed by Hindu sadhus, or holy figures, and pilgrims who come to witness this sacred event. According to tradition, the mythical Saraswati river, acknowledged by Hindus, once flowed from the Himalayas to Prayagraj, converging there with the Ganges and Yamuna.
Daily bathing rituals are observed, with a particular significance placed on auspicious days when naked, ash-covered monks eagerly rush to the sacred rivers at dawn. Numerous devotees reside on-site for the duration of the festival, engaging in acts of austerity, providing alms, and bathing at sunrise each day. “We feel peaceful here and attain salvation from the cycles of life and death,” expressed one attendee, Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari.
Historically, the festival is rooted in a Hindu narrative wherein the god Vishnu seized a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. Hindus believe that a few drops of this nectar fell in cities such as Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain, and Haridwar, which have hosted the Kumbh festival for centuries. The Kumbh rotates among these four pilgrimage locations approximately every three years, determined by astrological calculations, making this year’s gathering the most extensive and elaborate one yet. A smaller gathering, referred to as the Ardh Kumbh or Half Kumbh, took place in 2019, which saw around 240 million attendees, with 50 million participating in the ritual baths on the peak day of the event.
This year, officials project that at least 400 million people, exceeding the total population of the United States, will visit Prayagraj over the upcoming 45 days. This number is approximately 200 times greater than the 2 million pilgrims who participated in last year’s annual Hajj in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The festival presents a substantial challenge for Indian authorities, requiring adept organization to showcase Hindu cultural practices, enhance tourism, and effectively manage the large crowds. The expanse along the riverbanks has been transformed into a vast tent city, complete with over 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 restrooms. This tent city is divided into 25 distinct areas and spans 40 square kilometers (15 square miles), featuring accommodation, accessibility routes, electricity, water facilities, communication towers, and 11 hospitals. The walls are decorated with murals that illustrate stories from Hindu scriptures.
Indian Railways is facilitating transportation for attendees with more than 90 special trains, consisting of nearly 3,300 trips throughout the festival, in addition to regular services. Approximately 50,000 security personnel, representing a 50% increase compared to 2019, are deployed in the city to uphold law and order while managing the crowds. Over 2,500 surveillance cameras, including several utilizing AI technology, will relay information regarding crowd dynamics and density to four central control rooms, enabling rapid personnel deployment to prevent further stampedes.
Historically, India’s leaders have leveraged the Maha Kumbh festival to reinforce their ties with the Hindu majority, which comprises about 80% of the nation’s population exceeding 1.4 billion. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance, the festival has evolved to incorporate elements of Hindu nationalism. Modi’s party emphasizes a narrative linking Indian civilization with Hinduism, while critics contend that the party’s ideology often promotes a notion of Hindu supremacy.
The state of Uttar Pradesh, led by Adityanath, a notable Hindu monk and influential conservative politician within Modi’s party, has earmarked over $765 million for this year’s festivities. The event serves not only to enhance their political stature but also features extensive advertising throughout the city showcasing both leaders alongside messaging promoting their governance and welfare initiatives.
The festival is anticipated to reinforce past achievements of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in championing Hindu cultural representations to strengthen their support base. Nonetheless, the recent Kumbh festivals have been mired in controversy. Modi’s administration altered the city’s name from Allahabad to Prayagraj, part of a broader strategy to replace Muslim names with Hindu ones in light of the 2019 festival and the national elections that followed. In 2021, amidst rising COVID-19 cases, the government faced backlash for refusing to cancel the festival in Haridwar, driven by concerns of offending religious leaders.