Up until 8 p.m. ( 1430 GMT ), more than 76 million people took a “royal dip” in the river waters on Wednesday, and three more “royal dips are scheduled before the festival ends.
On Thursday, more than 9 million people took a “holy dip” at the confluence of three sacred rivers by 10am ( 0430 GMT ), officials said.
Believers take “holy dips” every morning, but on specific times the training is considered especially spiritual and is called a “royal” fall, attracting larger crowds.
Devote Hindus believe that taking a dip at the intersection of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the magical Saraswati relieves them of their sins and brings them to rest from the cycle of birth and death.
The Hindu celebration- held every 12 decades- is expected to bring some 400 million followers in 2025, leaders estimate. The Haj journey in Saudi Arabia, in contrast, drew 1.8 million persons last year.
As people continued to travel to the event, there were a boom in crowds on Thursday at the rail and bus stations across Prayagraj, but authorities said the jump was being managed and there were no occurrences.
” Points are now entirely under control”, senior police officer Vaibhav Krishna told Reuters.
Local media reported on Thursday that better masses planning was required to prevent such incidents, while opposition leaders have blamed the panic on mishandling and urged the government to strengthen festival arrangements.
The Hindustan Times newspaper stated in an editorial that” there is much opportunity for improving crowd control at the Kumbh.”
Authorities constructed a momentary city spread across 4, 000 lol on the river banks, which is the size of 7,500 football fields, and has 150, 000 tents to hold devotees and nearly equal amounts of toilets. More than 50, 000 workers are on watch to ensure the safety of customers.