What is the Maha Kumbh mela? The world's largest religious festival held in India
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The world's largest religious gathering kicks off in India on Monday amid health and environmental concerns. Over the next 45 days, an estimated 400 million Hindu pilgrims will converge on the city of Prayagraj, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The Maha Kumbh mela is one of the most sacred pilgrimages for Hindus and is celebrated once every 12 years.
It is held on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna and where the two rivers meet. Pilgrims from all sections of the faith will take part, including Sadhus and Sadhvis (religious men and women), and ascetics and hermits who leave their seclusion only during the Maha Kumbh mela.
For pilgrims, the Maha Kumbh mela serves as a symbolic journey of self-realisation, purification and spiritual enlightenment. A ritualistic dip in the sacred rivers is a spiritual purification, a symbolic cleansing of the body and soul and renews the connection with the divine.
Security, toilets and tents. To facilitate this mega event a pop-up tent city over 10,000 acres has been set up as a new district - the Mahakumbh Mela District. More than 160,000 tents have been pitched to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. Temporary roads of about 400km (248.5 miles) and 30 pontoon bridges over the two rivers have been laid as well.
Meanwhile, electric substations, police stations, clean water supply lines, 150,000 toilets and over 200km of sewage lines have been constructed too. Water quality monitoring systems have been installed along the river banks to track pollution in real-time, ensuring that the Ganges remains safe and clean for ceremonial bathing.
