The world’s largest religious festival, with an estimated 400 million Hindu devotees expected to attend over the next six weeks, began in north India on Monday.
Festival organisers said nearly 15 million pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival at Prayagraj, 700km east of New Delhi, immersed themselves inthe icy waters of the Sangam – the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers. The pilgrims believe this will cleanse their sins, provide salvation from the endless cycle of life and death, and achieve immortality.
These numbers are expected to swell to more than 20 million during the Shahi Snan or Royal Bath on Tuesday, which will be led by Hindu ascetics from the warrior Naga sect with matted dreadlocks, flowing beards and ash-smeared bodies, all loudly chanting prayers.
The Maha, or Great Festival, takes place every 12 years. According to Hindu mythology one of four drops of the “elixir of immortality” landed here from a Kumbh or pitcher which was being fought over by gods and demons. Their battle lasted 12 days, the equivalent of an analogous number of human years.
More than 80 per cent of India’s population of over 1.4 billion are Hindus, a majority of them deeply religious.
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Organising the festival, which swells with each successive edition, entailed establishing a “mini city” on the river bank over nearly three years at a cost of about 70 billion Indian rupees (€790 million).
Spread over some 40 sq kmare about 160,000 tents, 150,000 toilets, 1,249km of drinking water pipelines, 67,000 street lights, 1,600km of electrical cabling and 30 pontoon bridges.
There are three fully equipped hospitals and the entire area is overseen by more than 40,000 police and security officials, and 15,000 sanitation workers.
Officials said nearly 3,000 CCTV cameras have been positioned around the festival venue and across Prayagraj city, while airborne and underwater surveillance drones further boost security.
Analysts and political commentators accused prime minister Narendra Modi of using the festival to advance Hindu hegemony across India.
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“We see an attempt at the Kumbh Mela to make Hinduism synonymous with nationalism,” said social activist Harsh Mander. This exclusive approach is deeply troubling as it undermines the inclusive nature of Indian society, he added.
Opposition Congress Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused Mr Modi of politicising the Kumbh Mela by manipulating religious sentiments for political gains.
The Festival ends on February 26th.
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