The world’s largest religious gathering, the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, turned deadly Wednesday, with officials confirming at least 30 deaths and 60 people injured in a stampede on the biggest day of the festival.
Some 150 million people were expected to converge on one of the holiest spots for Hindu devotees, on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
This is not the first time a large religious gathering in the country has led to tragedy.
What is the Kumbh Mela?
India’s Maha — or grand — Kumbh Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It is often referred to as the “festival of festivals” and a major event in the Hindu calendar.
Hindu pilgrims arrive to take a dip in Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on Wednesday.
The ceremony is centuries old and is based on a tale in Hindu mythology where gods and demons fought over a pitcher, or kumbh, that contained the nectar of immortality.
It attracts hundreds of millions of devotees, holy men, tourists and politicians, converging on the banks of the holiest rivers in Hinduism to bathe in waters that are considered sacred. A dip in the water is a means, for devout Hindus, to cleanse their sins.
The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage happens every three years, but a Maha Kumbh occurs every 12 years in Pragyaraj — a city in India’s Uttar Pradesh state considered especially holy because the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet there. It is also the end point for the mythical Saraswati river, as described in ancient scriptures.
This year’s event is considered even more auspicious because of a special celestial alignment of the sun, the moon and Jupiter that only happens every 144 years.
How big is it really?
The scale of the Kumbh Mela is staggering.
India’s government has repeatedly said it’s expecting 400 million visitors this year — more than the population of the United States — over the 45 days of the festival that began Jan. 13.
The Kumbh Mela’s hundreds of millions of attendees dwarf other religious gatherings, with the last one in 2019 attracting about 240 million people. Last year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca drew 1.8 million people.
The Uttar Pradesh state government has spent $1.1 billion Cdn on setting up infrastructure surrounding the massive event and on technology focused on security and crowd management, branding this the first “Digital Maha Kumbh.”
