The Maha Kumbh Mela festival in PRAYARAG, India, wraps up on Wednesday ( Feb 26 ), with final ritual river bathing ceremonies marking the conclusion of six weeks of celebration, which organizers claim have attracted hundreds of millions of devotees.
The event in the northern area of Prayagraj has been hailed as a triumph by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist group, bolstering its thoroughly cultivated reputation as a servant of Hindu rise and national prosperity, despite two fatal herds that left dozens dead.
The millennia-old event, according to both Modi and his alliance, firebrand Hindu priest Yogi Adityanath, deputy minister of India’s most popular state of Uttar Pradesh, claim to be the “grandest” event to date.
The war between gods and spirits for control of a pitcher filled with the nectar of immortality is a central theme of Hindu mythology.
The event, which opened on Jan 13, ends Wednesday, culminating with the Hindu celebration of Maha Shivratri, in honour of the god Shiva.
According to eyebrow-raising images from Adityanath’s state authorities, more than 620 million followers took part in the event, a remarkable data even for the world’s most populous state of 1.4 billion people.
On Wednesday, millions more people are expected to shake off stomach-churning faecal problem measurements to plunge themselves into spiritual river waters.