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On Mauni Amavasya, Mahakumbh Nagar is the world’s most populated district
The Mahakumbh Nagar DM said that they expect 10 crore devotees to arrive in the fair area on Mauni Amavasya.
The population of Mahakumbh Nagar, the world’s largest temporary district situated on the sandy banks of the Sangam, will be at its highest on the biggest bathing festival of Mahakumbh - Mauni Amavasya - that is expected to attract 8 to 10 crore pilgrims on Wednesday.
Leave alone any other district in the world, barring 14-odd countries, even no nation has such huge a population as the sprawling 40 sq km temporary district would have on January 29.
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The significance of this bathing festival for followers of Sanatan Dharma can be gauged by the fact that even three days before Mauni Amavasya, 3 crore devotees from across the country had already converged on the Sangam. The figure swelled to over 4 crore on the eve of the bathing festival. On Tuesday, a day before the second Amrit Snan, 1.13 crore devotees had taken a dip by 10 am, and the number rose to over 1.88 crore by 12 noon and to 2.39 crore by 2pm even as the flow of pilgrims to Sangam continues.
In such a situation, when the bathing actually starts at 7.35pm on Tuesday and peaks from sunrise on Wednesday before concluding as per mahurat at 6.28pm, the count of pilgrims is expected to reach close to 10 crore.
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Interestingly, barring India whose population is around 1.46 billion and China 1.42 billion, only 10 to 12 other nations have a population over 100 million (10 crore), including the US (35.14 crore), Indonesia (22.99 crore), Pakistan (22.51 crore), Brazil (21.91 crore), Bangladesh (16.22 crore), Nigeria (15.47 crore), Russia (14.14 crore), Mexico (12.65 crore) and Japan (2.64 crore).
“We expect 10 crore devotees to arrive in the fair area on Mauni Amavasya. All arrangements have been made keeping this number in mind,” said Vijay Kiran Anand, district magistrate, (mela adhikari) of Mahakumbh Nagar.
