10 million Indians take holy dip on key day of Kumbh Mela festival
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Devotees taking a dip at holy waters in Uttar Pradesh state in northern India on Feb 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LUCKNOW – More than 10 million devout Hindus seeking absolution from their sins took a dip in holy waters in northern India during a span of four hours on Feb 12, the authorities said, as they braced themselves for millions more to swarm the site of the Kumbh Mela.
Officials at the site stepped up the number of police officers and put air ambulances on standby in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state on one of the holiest days of the Hindu festival, considered the world’s largest gathering of humanity.
“There are more people in this city in one day than the population of many countries, and the numbers are swelling by the minute,” Mr Prashant Kumar, the state’s chief of police, told Reuters.
The numbers arriving have pushed infrastructure arrangements to the brink, making delays and traffic jams inevitable, he added. Media said vehicles were backed up for hundreds of kilometres from the edges of the city.
More than 10 million people had bathed by 8am, with more expected. The full moon on Feb 12, known as Magh Purnima, makes it one of the holiest days in the six-week-long festival, held at the confluence of India’s three holiest rivers.
Maintaining safety can prove a challenge at the festival, despite stringent precautions.
More than 30 people were killed in a stampede on Jan 29, as over 76 million flocked to the river for a “royal dip”, but this did not deter a stream of notables, from Indian President Narendra Modi to ministers, film stars and the wealthy.
Hindus believe that a plunge in the waters where the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati meet will absolve them of sin, but they consider the 2025 event even more significant as it has the power to free them of the cycle of rebirth. REUTERS
