Echoes of faith at Kumbh mela

The Nashik Kumbhmela is a celebration that is held once every 12 years – it is scheduled for 2015 (Aug-Sept). Millions of devotees and tourists from all around the world participate in this holy event in India. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT Photo)

Updated on: Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM IST

News

Share via

• 
• 
• 
• 

Copy link

• 

1/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

The Nashik Kumbhmela is a celebration that is held once every 12 years – it is scheduled for 2015 (Aug-Sept). Millions of devotees and tourists from all around the world participate in this holy event in India. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT Photo)

2/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

A Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, blows a conch or horn as he participates in a procession during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher festival, at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik. (AP Photo)

3/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Ash smeared sadhus standing on one leg or lying on a bed of nails while subsisting on leaves, pilgrims who immerse themselves at the Sangam to wash away their sins, attain moksh and be free of the wretchedness of repeated rebirth, unfortunate stampedes that kill hundreds, colour, vibrancy and a desperate yearning to reach out to the Unknowable, the Kumbh Mela. (AP Photo)

4/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Every year, Kumbh Mela sees religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding of holy men and women and the poor, and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardised. Kumbh Mela is considered the most sacred of all pilgrimages. (AP Photo)

5/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

348 CCTV cameras, 250 loudspeakers, 80 LED screens are set up to help special police control room monitor crowd. (AP Photo)

6/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Hundreds of thousands of Hindus take part in the religious gathering at the banks of the Godavari river. (Reuters Photo)

7/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Hindu devotees pray while standing in the Godavari river during Kumbh Mela. "An eternal life free of sins" is the promise that comes attached with the magnificent event of Kumbh Mela. (Reuters Photo)

8/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Kumbh Mela is celebrated four times every 12 years, the site of the observance rotating between four pilgrimage places: Haridwar on the Ganges river, Ujjain on the Shipra, Nashik on the Godavari, and Allahabad on the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical river Sarasvati. (AP Photo)

9/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

Hindu devotees take a holy bath at Ramkund in the Godavari River during Kumbh Mela festival at Nashik in Maharashtra. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT Photo)

10/10

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Aug 26, 2015 9:56 PM

The pilgrimage is held for about one and a half months at each of these four places: it is believed in Hinduism that drops of nectar fell from the kumbha carried by gods after the sea was churned. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse a person of all sins. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT Photo)