Curtains came down on the 44-day Magh Mela-2023 with the annual fair’s last official bathing day of Maha Shivratri, at the banks of the Sangam, in Prayagraj, on Saturday.
According to Mela officials, around 8.5 lakh devotees took a holy dip in the waters of the Sangam by 6pm.
Making the most of a warm night and the sun shining in a clear sky, devotees started bathing in the Sangam waters even before sunrise. With the auspicious period of bathing continuing up till sunset and even later, people were seen taking a dip and offering prayers to Lord Shiva all through the day and even after the setting of the Sun.
According to Magh Mela officer, Arvind Kumar Chauhan, the last bathing day of Maha Shivratri also passed peacefully with no untoward incident being reported.
“We would like to extend our thanks to all pilgrims, religious and social organisations as well as volunteers and government officials along with the people of Sangam city for their support in making the fair successful and memorable,” he added.
He said by 10am itself over 4 lakh devotees had taken a dip in the holy waters and the count reached 5.5 lakh by 12 noon and crossed 7 lakh by 2pm. Officials estimate that around 8.5 lakh pilgrims took the dip during the whole day.
{{/usCountry}}He said by 10am itself over 4 lakh devotees had taken a dip in the holy waters and the count reached 5.5 lakh by 12 noon and crossed 7 lakh by 2pm. Officials estimate that around 8.5 lakh pilgrims took the dip during the whole day.
{{/usCountry}}The 44-day religious fair witnessed over 3.37 crore devotees taking a holy dip in the Sangam waters on just the main six bathing days.
For the last bathing day, heavy security arrangements were made by the officials.
Prayagraj divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri and Mela Adhikari Arvind Kumar Chauhan, additional director general of police (Prayagraj zone) Bhanu Bhaskar, Prayagraj commissioner of police Ramit Sharma, senior superintendent of police (Mela) Rajiv Narayan Mishra and SP (Mela) Aditya Shukla monitored the bathing and oversaw efforts of security personnel in maintaining social distancing and other precautions against Covid-19 like wearing facemasks. Members of the dog squad and bomb disposal squad also remained active in the mela area.