Every twelve years takes place the Purna Kumbh Mela, or Grande Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj. It is the largest pilgrimage in the world, which brings together several million people. During the 2001 Purna Kumbh Mela, 70 million faithful went to the banks of the Ganges in three weeks, including 40 million in one day. The Maha Kumbh Mela is held in Prayagraj (Prayag) every 144 years, after exactly twelve Purna Kumbh Mela. This is the case with the exceptional 2025 edition, for which a record number of pilgrims is expected. Legend has it that during twelve days and twelve divine nights, the equivalent of twelve human years, the gods and demons fought in heaven for the possession of the jug of Amrita, the drink of eternity. During the battle, drops of Amrita fell into four places: Prayagraj (Prayag), Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik, cities in which the Kumbh Mela festivals are held every twelve years. The flow of the Ganges symbolizes Amrita and it is around the river that celebrations take place. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers in India, the largest pilgrimage on the planet, at the borders of religion and politics later read the main event of the festival is the immersion in the Ganges, supposed to wash all sins out of 88 generations, to certain dates defined by astrological calculations. Sadhus, sacred men, bathe first, most of the time naked and two, after which they cover themselves with ashes. The pilgrims then come. Update, a temporary city was built on a plot of 4,000 hectares to welcome the faithful. It accommodates 160,000 tents with carpets, beds and sanitary facilities, 150,000 toilets, 68,000 lampposts, 25,000 trash cans. Some 40,000 police were also posted. The government has invested enormous means in communication to promote this festival on the border of religious and politics, spiritual and business. On the bank of the Ganges during the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj (India), January 14, 2025. Ashwini Bhatia /
A crowd of pilgrims and sadhus during the so -called “royal bath” ritual bath in the Ganges, January 14, 2025. Niharika Kulkarni / AFP 
A sadhu, Hindu ascetic or “sacred man”, covered with ash, leads a prayer near Sangam during the Kumbh Mela festival, on January 13, 2025. Niharika Kulkarni / AFP 
A faithful, the front covered with ash, after his swim in the Ganges, on January 13, 2025. Adnan Abidi / Reuters 
Pilgrims load their phones on a public charging station during the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India, January 13, 2025. Ashwini Bhatia / 
Hindu faithful cross a pontoon in Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the legendary Saraswati, the day of Makar Sankranti, during the Maha Kumbh festival, in the Uttar Pradesh, in India, on Tuesday January 14, 2025. Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP 
Wishky Sharma, a member of the “Kinnar Akhara” congregation (which represents the Hijra community, third kinds considered as neither men nor women or as transgender women and who have existed since Antiquity), before his Tent during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India on January 15, 2025. The members of this congregation are authorized to participate in the festival since 2019. Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters 
Pilgrims bathe in the Ganges during a ritual named Shahi Snan, or “Royal Bath”, January 14, 2025. Idrees Mohammed / AFP 
Police and pilgrims evacuate luggage and tents threatened by an accidental fire, at the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India, January 19, 2025. Stringer / Reuters 
A sadhu, Hindu ascetic or “sacred man”, smokes cannabis in a chillum (unwanted pipe), January 15, 2025 in Prayagraj (India). Hindu ascetics consume a lot of cannabis, which is for them a sacred herb linked to the God Shiva. Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters 
A sadhu, Hindu ascetic or “sacred man”, brandished a mass, during the Kumbh Mela festival on January 14, 2025. Adnan Abidi/Reuters 
A child makes a balancing number, in the middle of the crowd of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on January 13, 2025. Idrees Mohammed / AFP 
Police on horseback monitor the crowd on the banks of the Ganges in Prayagraj, India, January 14, 2025. Adnan Abidi / Reuters 
Sadhus, or “sacred men” Hindu, coat of ashes after having bathed during the “Maha Kumbh Mela”, in Prayagraj, India, January 14, 2025. Anushree Fadnavis / Reuters 
The police monitor the situation on the screens of the integrated command and control center, set up to manage and control the crowd, during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, on January 17, 2025. Niharika Kulkarni / AFP
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-01-26 14:50:46
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