The Hindu festival attracts crowds of bathers to the rivers

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) – Millions have joined a 45-day Hindu bathing festival in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj, where devotees descend on Sangam, the sacred confluence of several rivers . There, they bathe on certain days considered auspicious in the belief that they will be cleansed from all sin.

Rows and rows of colorful tents, in which devotees are housed, line the festival site. Millions of Hindus travel each year to the event, called Magh Mela, where pilgrims offer prayers and enter the sacred waters where the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers meet.

In Hinduism, this period is called Kalpvas and devotees who choose to remain all the time are known as Kalpvasis. They abandon their daily routine and instead camp on the spot, living on frugal meals and performing rituals.

Virender Kumar Shukla, a devotee from Kalpvasi, attends for the fifth time. He said he hopes by offering prayers to “find a place in heaven” and win “a better rebirth.”

Authorities took months to build what appears to be a city of temporary tents by the river. Police patrolled the site and floating bridges were built to help people cross the river. Boats transport pilgrims from the shore of the Yamuna to the Sangam, where they bathe in holy water and offer their prayers.

The festival is being held despite cases of COVID-19 in some parts of the country increasing after months of steady decline. India has confirmed 11 million cases and more than 150,000 deaths.

Health officials have told local media that they have tested tens of thousands of pilgrims for the virus since the festival began on January 14th. It is scheduled to end on February 27th.