India is celebrating Kumbh Mela, the world’s greatest pilgrimage, despite concerns about Covid-19

(CNN) – Every year, tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims wade into the Ganges River in search of deliverance from the eternal cycle of life and death. Holy men lead prayers and offer blessings, and devotees wash away their sins in the holy waters.

But this year, India’s Kumbh Mela – the greatest pilgrimage on Earth – is raising alarm, with some authorities warning of a possible massive outbreak of Covid-19 as crowds gather and bathe together without masks.

Kumbh Mela, a month-long mass pilgrimage, is one of the most important Hindu celebrations. According to some myths behind the festival, on certain days the river water of the Ganges turns into ‘amrita’, or the nectar of immortality.

Bathing in the sacred waters of the “sangam,” where the rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati meet, is believed to achieve “moksha,” or liberation from the cycle of life and death.

The pilgrimage would begin on Thursday, known as Makar Sankranti, or the first day of the holy baths. But this year, officials decided to push the pilgrimage back a month.

“We will spend for (the pilgrimage) to start sometime in the third week of February,” and continue until the end of April, said Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand’s minister for Urban Development and Housing. Within those few months, there will be four days for people to dive into the Ganges, he said.

“This festival will not be delayed any further. We will take precaution and do everything we can, but we will not delay or cancel the Kumbh Mela,” he added.

Despite the delay, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country gathered in the ancient city of Haridwar, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, on Thursday to celebrate Makar Sankranti.

Devotees began to arrive Wednesday; photos show families taking a dip in the river, groups walking or sitting along its banks, and holy men performing evening prayers. Shopkeepers decorated their windows, while open-air sellers lined the streets in anticipation of the hustle and bustle. Thursday, according to Kaushik, about 700,000 people were present.

As the first crowds plunged into the water, authorities braced for the potential of a super-spreader event, with the country still reporting between 20,000 new Covid-19 cases per day.

A potential ‘breeding ground’

However, leaders warn that vaccination or not, the risk of infection is still high, and residents should continue to take precautions.

The Uttarakhand Supreme Court issued a judicial directive on January 11 highlighting the danger posed by the festival and urging authorities to take more detailed security measures. Unless the flow of people is controlled, with safe accommodation and transportation, “Kumbh Mela could become the breeding ground for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by 2021,” the court warned.

“As people from all over the country and beyond congregate in Kumbh Mela, the COVID-19 infection by the pilgrims could be traced back to different parts of the country,” the court said, adding that the government needed “concrete plans”. to minimize the threat.

Devotees coming from out of town will have to go through thermal scanning and random sampling, Haridwar Extra District Magistrate KK Mishra said on Thursday. District officials across the city have been deployed to raise awareness and provide safety training for retailers and entrepreneurs, he said.

On Thursday, volunteer teams conducted temperature checks on devotees near the Ganges. People who wish to participate in the sacred baths must also register online and receive e-passes, according to CNN-News 18. National guidelines are still in place, including mandatory face masks and a mandatory public rule for distance of six feet in public . spaces.

But it’s unclear how closely those precautions will be followed, or how they will be enforced – especially during next month’s pilgrimage.

Thursday photos show people huddled on the banks of the river, without the required distance between individuals. Many of those depicted were wearing face masks or coverings, but a significant number were also bare-faced, including children and the elderly – and especially during group rites.

There is also no guarantee that people will wait for the official launch date. The important religious dates are based on the astrological positions of planets, so devotees might well travel to the Ganges on those dates for the sacred baths, regardless of the approval of the authorities.

Rising religious tensions

Authorities have good reason to be nervous. Around the world, several religious gatherings have caused Covid-19 clusters, some of which spread across the nation beyond their communities.

One of the earliest and most famous cases was the Shincheonji religious group, which became the center of the South Korea outbreak in February. By March, thousands of cases had been associated with members – more than half of all cases in the country at the time – leading to local lockdowns. and extensive contact tracking and testing.

India faced its own crisis in mid-March, when a meeting of a conservative Muslim missionary group in New Delhi sparked a highly publicized cluster. Thousands of members traveled to the event from around the country and abroad – in the months that followed, more than 4,200 cases were linked to the meeting, across 23 states and union territories.

But the Muslim group meeting was met with a much stronger outburst and public hostility than cases in other countries, largely due to the long-standing tensions between Muslims and Hindus in India, which grew alongside fear and paranoia during the pandemic.

The majority of India’s 1.3 billion people are Hindus; Muslims make up about 200 million people in the country. The Delhi cluster reinforced existing prejudices, which have increased in recent years among Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Muslims across the country reported being harassed and beaten; some had their homes raided by the police; some BJP leaders described the meeting as an act of terrorism.

Other non-Muslim gatherings continued during the same period, but received significantly less repercussions. For example, the Prime Minister of Uttar Pradesh state traveled to another city for a Hindu ritual even after the lockdown was announced, reportedly surrounded by at least 20 people. Afterwards, his media adviser told the local media that about 10 people were in attendance.

There was also almost no sign of public outrage this week for the hundreds of thousands of Hindus who gathered in Haridwar. Modi, who has a strong Hindu base, tweeted about the holiday on Thursday and made no mention of Covid-19 or security measures.

“Makar Sankranti (the first day for holy baths) is marked with enthusiasm in different parts of India,” he wrote. “This auspicious festival illustrates the diversity of India and the vibrancy of our traditions.”

Indian political commentator Sanjay Kapoor is not surprised that authorities are continuing the pilgrimage next month, despite clear security concerns.

“I don’t think it will ever be canceled – it’s too big,” he said, adding that the festival has grown significantly since the BJP took power, due to their emphasis on Hindu nationalism – as well as the cultural. and political rule of the Hindu majority of India. It’s all the grimmer when you consider that the Muslim rally in March was “poisonous” targeted and exemplified, he said.

“They don’t even allow Parliament to meet because of Covid, but these mega events are allowed to happen. How do you explain that to the world?” Kapoor said. “The pandemic has not disappeared.”