Naked, ash-smeared Hindu ascetics take holy dips at the Maha Kumbh festival

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — Naked Hindu ascetics and pilgrims took dips in the freezing waters at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first major bathing day of the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

Holding tridents, swords, spears and small two-headed drums, ash-smeared Hindu holy men marched at sunrise toward the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in the northern city of Prayagraj. The men — with matted dreadlocks and crowns of marigolds — chanted religious slogans praising Hindu deity Lord Shiva and were escorted to the bathing site on chariots in a large procession with singing, drumming and blowing of horns.

The Maha Kumbh festival — held every 12 years — started Monday, with more than 15 million pilgrims bathing in the holy rivers, according to officials. Over about the next six weeks, the festival is expected to draw more than 400 million people, many of whom will take part in elaborate rituals.

Hindus believe that bathing at the confluence will cleanse them of their sins and release them from the cycle of rebirth.

The festival has its roots in a Hindu tradition that says the god Vishnu wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. Hindus believe that a few drops fell in the cities of Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar — the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries.

The Kumbh rotates among these four pilgrimage sites about every three years on a date determined by the cosmic alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter.

This year’s festival is the biggest and grandest of them all.

Authorities have built a sprawling tented city on the river banks to accommodate the holy men, pilgrims and tourists visiting the festival. The government has shelled out more than $765 million for the event, hoping to impress India’s largely Hindu population and draw visitors from around the world.

The tent city is equipped with 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 toilets and urinals. About 50,000 security personnel are also stationed in the city to maintain law and order and crowd management.

Groups of Hindu ascetics have also set up sprawling camps at the site, with tens of thousands of pilgrims visiting them to hear religious discourses and attend prayers. These ascetics — called Naga Sadhus — are part of religious orders that were once mercenary armies who generally revere Hinduism’s Lord Shiva.

Bathing takes place every day at the site, but on the most auspicious dates, Hindu ascetics charge toward the holy rivers at dawn.

Many pilgrims also stay for the entire festival, observing austerity, giving alms and bathing at sunrise every day. The river baths, prayer, meditation and yoga sessions and other religious rituals are organized by Hindu ascetics, and financially supported with public funds.

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