Kumbh Mela: what is the Hindu ‘festival of festivals’?

At least 30 people have been killed and 60 injured after fatal crowd crushes took place at the Kumbh Mela festival in India. The incident took place on early Wednesday morning as large numbers of devotees went to bathe in the river, on one of the holiest days of the Hindu gathering. What is the Kumbh Mela? The Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest religious gathering, widely seen as the “festival of festivals” in the Hindu religious calendar. This year it is being held in the north Indian city of Prayagraj, where it takes place every 12 years. Its origins lie in ancient Hindu mythology and the legend of demons and gods fighting over a pitcher, or kumbh, of the nectar of immortality, and drops falling on to the earth in four Indian cities. During the 45-day festival, Hindu holy men, known as sadhus, and hundreds of millions of devotees set up camp and take a dip in the triveni sangam, the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj, which they believe will cleanse their sins and free them from the cycle of reincarnation. Smaller versions of the Kumbh Mela take place every three years but the iteration held in Prayagraj is considered to be the biggest and most spiritually significant. This year’s celebration, which is expected to continue until 26 February, is particularly auspicious as it is the Maha, or grand Kumbh Mela, which takes places once every 144 years. It marks the 12th Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj and a special celestial alignment of the sun, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn. Just how big is the Kumbh Mela? Even in a country as big and populous as India, the scale of the Kumbh Mela is staggering. This time round, the government said it expected 400 million visitors – larger than the population of the US – to turn up over the total 45 days of the Kumbh Mela, which would be a record crowd for the festival. In 2019, a smaller version of the festival in Haridwar attracted 240 million people. Over the course of the festival, a sprawling temporary city of tents, stalls, toilets and elaborate temple facades are constructed along both banks of the Ganges, across a 40 sq km area. Each day, millions gather at the triveni sangam to take a dip in the water, many having travelled for days to do so. As well as pilgrims, it is mandatory for tens of thousands of sadhus, who are part of monastic sects known as Akharas, to attend the Kumbh Mela and take part in several ritual bathes in the river. It offers pilgrims a rare opportunity to offer devotion to the naga sadhus, the naked, ash-smeared holy men who largely live an isolated life of meditation and prayer in ashrams. Spending for the festival has also increased to record highs this year, with the Uttar Pradesh state government reported to have spent 70bn rupees (£670m) on setting up the site and bringing in new technology to update the ancient festivities. What caused the crowd crush? Wednesday 29 January was considered one of the most auspicious days to take a dip in the holy river waters during the Kumbh Mela and was always expected to draw in huge numbers of pilgrims. According to government estimates, 100 million people were due to take a holy dip in the waters over the course of the day. It is also when the Akharas, the 13 monastic sects of sadhus, take part in the shahi snan, one of the biggest spiritual bathing rituals of the Kumbh Mela, which begins before sunrise. In the build-up, it had appeared the police had already struggled to manage the large numbers of pilgrims who were arriving. Many of the pontoon bridges and walkways were highly congested or shut off by police, leaving pilgrims and sadhus frustrated at the restricted movement around the site. As large numbers arrived on the riverbank late on Tuesday evening, the authorities began to urge pilgrims to take only two dips in the water and then leave the riverside quickly. But by the early hours of Wednesday, millions of pilgrims had continued to squash on to the area around the sangam, many falling asleep on the ground after the holy dip. According to witnesses, in the early hours of Wednesday, the crowd around the riverbank surged in multiple directions and people began to try to push their way out. Many fell over and were trampled, while many of those sleeping on the ground were crushed. What has the government response been? In the aftermath, dozens of bodies were seen lying on the ground around the banks of the river, and families sitting outside hospitals gave accounts of relatives who had been injured and killed in the crush. Local officials counting casualties into hospital tents said at least 39 were feared dead while other officials and doctors have given death tolls ranging from 15 to 50. A senior police officer, Vaibhav Krishna, told a news conference that 30 people had died. In a statement, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, offered condolences for the “lives lost”. The incident could have significant political implications for the government. The Kumbh Mela has taken on major political significance under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). The state and central BJP government launched a huge national publicity campaign around the Kumbh Mela, which is seen as a politically lucrative symbol of Hindu unity and strength, and posters of Modi and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, adorned every corner of the Kumbh Mela. Modi had earlier praised the “unforgettable crowds” that were attending the festival. Is this the first deadly crush at the Kumbh Mela? The Kumbh Mela has a chequered history when it comes to the safety of pilgrims. In 1954, at the first festival held after independence, nearly 800 people were trampled to death or drowned as they gathered to bathe in the river. There was another crush of people during the 1986 Kumbh Mela, which took 200 lives, and again in 2003, when 39 people died. At the 2013 Kumbh Mela, 42 people were killed in a crowd crush of devotees arriving at a train station, prompting an overhaul of security arrangements.