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The Maha Kumbh Mela, or the great launch festival, is attracting hundreds of millions of pilgrims and tourists to India. The 45 -day festival, which began on January 13, is the largest humanity meeting in the world. It is expected to attract approximately 420 million.
That is approximately 200 times the number of Muslim pilgrims who participated in the annual Hajj in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia, last year. It is so large that it can be seen from outer space.
According to the Hindu scriptures, gods and demons once stirred the cosmic ocean in search of the nectar of immortality. During this fight, nectar drops fell into four sacred sites. The spiritual Hindu Festival It takes place once every 12 years in one of those four locations.
This year, it is carried out in the city of Prayagraj in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. This year’s event is considered particularly special because it is aligned with a rare heavenly configuration of a century.
Hundreds of ships and thousands of devotees along the banks of Prayagraj. (Ava Poonaowala)
Divotes have been descending in northern India to Give a dip at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. The Hindus, who represent almost 80% of the more than 1.4 billion people from India, believe that an third invisible river, the mythical Saraswati, also meets at the confluence.
The legend argues that a drop in sacred waters will clean them from sins and grant salvation. The bathroom occurs daily, but on the most auspicious dates, Naga Sadhus, Hindu ascetics, addresses the sacred rivers at dawn.
Ava Poonowala, resident of Mumbai, India, made the trip not as a pilgrim, but to “witness the world’s biggest religious event in our life,” he explained to Fox News Digital. She took a dip in the early 6 am just when the sun came out.
After his cold dip, he said he felt vigorized and in peace.
“Everyone seemed to be there for a purpose,” he told Fox News Digital. “And that was the spiritual awakening.”
Rudraksh Baba establishes a camp in Prayagraj with thousands of accounts. (Ava Poonaowala)
Maha Kumbh Mela is a massive task for any standard. To accommodate the tens of thousands of Holy men, pilgrims And tourists, the authorities have built a city of expanding tents on the banks of the river. It is equipped with more than 150,000 tents and bathrooms, 3,000 kitchens and 11 hospitals, as well as roads, electricity, water and communication towers.
It covers about 15 square miles. Around 50,000 security personnel, backed by intelligence artificial chambers, are parked in the city to maintain the law and order and administer the crowds.
“I was surprised by the incredible magnitude of this event,” Poonowala told Fox News Digital. “It’s unimaginable how they join everything.”
Stamy that killed 121 in India was caused by severe overcrowding and lack of exits, authorities say
A lousy Stampede exploded In the festival last week, according to reports, killing approximately three dozen people and hurting many more. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the “devotees who have lost their loved ones” without specifying the dead number.
Police reported that the stampede occurred when hundreds of millions of pilgrims rushed to immerse themselves in sacred waters in the most auspicious day of the festival. Uttar Pradesh’s prime minister said some devotees tried to jump crowd management barricades, which caused falling in love. The great Kumbh processions, which had been reduced last week, have resumed.
Before the stampede, the festival saw a short but large fire, which was rapidly extinguished.
A woman injured in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh festival is held by safety officers at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers, in Mauni Amavasya, or the day of the new moon, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, January 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
At least 30 dead in Stampede at the Maha Kumbh mass festival in India, according to the police
For many, the wonder of Maha Kumbh Mela is not found in religious or spiritual experience, but rather in the cultural extravagance. Not only does it gather monks with ashes, naked asceses and priests dressed from head to toe in saffron. It also attracts tourists with selfies and amazing foreigners.
Uttar Pradesh has done everything possible to promote this year’s festival as a tourist event, offering luxury packages and experiences. The Government even organized helicopters to have flower petals on the saints and the seers they realize. The State has assigned more than $ 765 million for this year’s event.
Kumbh has attracted people from all strata in society, whether they are billionaires as Laurene Powell JobsThe wife of the deceased Steve Jobs, or athletes such as the Olympic boxer Mary Kom. Bollywood’s stars and celebrities such as Coldplay leader Chris Martin, and her fiancee, actress Dakota Johnson, have descended at the festival.
Even royalty, such as King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck from Bután, have appeared. On Wednesday, exactly a week after the stampede, Prime Minister Modi arrived in Prayagraj to take a sacred dip.
Priests dressed in saffron in 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela. (Ava Poonaowala)
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The popularity of Kumbh Mela has constantly increased in size over the years, since better infrastructure and facilities have attracted more people. This year, for the first time, the mass event also boasts of being without plastic and ecological. The festival is a significant Test for India To show Hinduism and culture, as well as handle tourism and multitude management.
“The floor was buzzing at all hours, during the night until the morning,” Poonowala said. “He was so surreal with such purity. I can’t even start explaining it.”
