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“India Prepares for Maha Kumbh Mela, the World’s Largest Human Gathering”

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A six-week Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, will be inaugurated in India on Monday, marking a sacred Hindu event anticipated to become the world’s largest gathering of humanity. The festival will showcase religion, spirituality, tourism, and crowd management on an unprecedented scale.

It is expected that over 400 million people will gather in the northern city of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, over six weeks to take a holy dip at the confluence of three sacred rivers—the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical, invisible Saraswati. “Devout Hindus believe that taking a dip in these sacred waters absolves one of sins and offers salvation from the cycle of life and death.”

This is one of the images that I made in last Allahabad Kumbh Mela 2019 while Sadhus of the Juna Akhara, the oldest and the largest Akhara, were in a mass initiation ceremony of becoming a Naga Sadhu (Naked Yogi). Becoming a Naga Sadhu is one of the most difficult periods of any Sadhu in their lifetime. During this initiation process, they must chop off their hair and perform their own as well as all the alive family members’ Pind Daan (after death rituals) and participate in a night-long sacred fire ceremony after they were inducted in the ancient order of Naga Sadhus. It’s very important to consider himself dead for the family and society. It’s really painful. I have seen Sadhus literally crying while performing the rituals. Naga Sadhus are found all over the country but they are exclusively from the Himalayas. Deep in the mountains of the Himalayas, these sadhus live in subzero temperatures, wearing nothing more than a single piece of cloth and taking very minimum food. As they are in the search of enlightenment, they have very strict rules to be followed as they need to conserve energy for their concentration and meditation. They consume a certain amount of ‘charas’ or ‘hash’, which exclusively grows only in the Himalayan mountains. This specific kind of ‘charas’, when consumed produces an immense amount of heat in the body, so it helps them to cope up with the extreme cold temperatures in the mountains. Kumbh Mela, the largest spiritual gathering of mankind on the Earth, is held every 12 years on the banks of the ‘Sangam’- the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Millions of devotees take a holy dip in the sacred water during the mela. Maha Kumbha Mela held only at Prayag, once in every 144 years. It is believed that at the historic moment of the Maha Kumbh Mela, the river turns itself into sanctity spots filled with ‘Amrita’ (Panacia or elixir of immortality). The pilgrims get once in a lifetime ch

The festival’s origin is rooted in a Hindu tradition, which holds that the god Vishnu wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. During a 12-day celestial battle, four drops were said to have fallen to earth in Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik, which host the festival by rotation every three years. The Maha Kumbh, held once every 12 years, is considered the most auspicious, attracting the largest gathering due to its timing.

Indian Railways will facilitate the movement of millions by introducing 98 special trains, which will make 3,300 trips during the festival, complementing the regular train services to Prayagraj. A comprehensive web of surveillance, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), will be established by around 40,000 police personnel and cybercrime experts to manage and protect the immense crowd. “A web of surveillance powered by AI will be established to ensure safety,” noted Prashant Kumar, the police chief of Uttar Pradesh.

The event is seen as a testament to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) efforts to reclaim and glorify India’s religious and cultural heritage, a promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The state government has allocated 64 billion rupees ($765 million) for this year’s festival, which has been promoted at several international tourism expos, with invitations extended to foreign representatives.

This year’s Maha Kumbh Mela is not just a religious gathering; it is a grand celebration of India’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage, set to begin its remarkable journey on Monday.

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