AP PHOTOS: Hindu festival draws crowds of swimmers to rivers
By RAJESH KUMAR SINGH
PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) – Millions of people have joined a 45-day Hindu bathing festival in the north Indian city of Prayagraj, where devotees take a dip in Sangam, the sacred confluence of several rivers. There they prayed on certain days considered auspicious with the belief that they would be cleansed from all sins.
Rows and rows of colorful tents, in which the devotees reside, line the vast festival grounds. Millions of Hindus travel every year to the event, called Magh Mela, where pilgrims recite prayers and enter the sacred waters where the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
In Hinduism, this period is called Kalpvas and the devotees who choose to stay all the time are known as Kalpvasis. They give up their daily routine and camp in the campground instead, living off frugal meals and performing rituals.
Virender Kumar Shukla, a Kalpvasi devotee, attends for the fifth time. He said he hopes by offering prayers to “find a place in heaven” and earn “a better new birth.”
It took the authorities months to build what appears to be a temporary tent city on the banks of the river. Police patrol the site and floating bridges have been built to help people get from one side of the river to the other. Boats transport pilgrims from the banks of the Yamuna to the Sangam, where they bathe in holy water and say their prayers.
The festival is being held, although COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some parts of the country after months of steady decline. India has confirmed 11 million cases and more than 150,000 deaths.
Health officials have told local media they have tested tens of thousands of pilgrims for the virus since the festival began on Jan. 14. It will end on February 27th.