Millions participated in the first Amrit Snan of Mahakumbh 2025 on Makar Sankranti, with enhanced capacity allowing 2 lakh devotees to bathe hourly.
Millions of devotees participated in the first Amrit Snan of Mahakumbh 2025, on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti on Tuesday.
Devout at the Sangam Nose during the Mahakumbh on Tuesday (HT Photo)
The Sangam Nose, the primary focus of the devotees, was where the irrigation department’s mechanical maintenance section, Varanasi team, worked round-the-clock in three shifts to expand 26 hectares of land between the Shastri Bridge and Sangam Nose, with 2 hectares exclusively added, in just 85 days, a government official said.
According to government estimates, on January 13, the first bathing day of Paush Purnima, and January 14, the first Amrit Snan of Mahakumbh 2025, millions of devotees took a holy dip. With crowds gathering from late at night, it is estimated that over 3 lakh people bathed at the Sangam Nose every hour during peak time.
The expansion by the mechanical maintenance section, achieved by placing sandbags over a 1,650-meter stretch, allowed for the construction of temporary ghats, enabling more devotees to bathe simultaneously across the Sangam region.
The task was completed using four large American dredging machines in record time. A government spokesman said that the capacity of the Sangam Nose has been significantly increased, allowing over 2 lakh devotees to bathe every hour—a four-fold increase compared to 2019, when the capacity was 50,000 per hour.