Over 660 million pilgrims gathered at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, this past February, and I'm now seeing the ...

LIVE – Updated at 12:40. Nearly 40 people were killed in stampedes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, as millions of Hindu devotees gathered for a ritual bath at the confluence of three sacred ...

Rescue personnel carry a victim of a stampede amid the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India, Jan. 29, 2025. ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty ...

During the last Maha Kumbh Mela, in 2013, at least three dozen people died when a bridge in a train station collapsed. Hundreds of people died in a stampede during independent India’s first ...

Hindus perform a religious ritual on the banks of Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India, on March 12. Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images.

From now until March, up to 120 million pilgrims are expected to head for Prayagraj in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state for the Kumbh Mela, considered the world’s largest gathering of ...

Whether you are drawn to spiritual gatherings like Kumbh Mela, folk showcases like Hornbill Festival, or local melas that pop ...

In Uttarakhand, the state where the festival took place, infections spiked. At the start of April, when the Kumbh Mela began, the state was reporting 500 new cases a day.

People from all walks of life in India are now gathering for the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Ganges River where it meets and mixes with the water of the Yamuna and ...

The Kumbh Mela is the world's largest religious gathering, attracting hundreds of millions of Hindu worshippers. Here's how India prepared—and what happens once it's all over.

While the full Kumbh Mela occurs in 12-year cycles, there are three additional festivals held in between. This year’s Kumbh Mela is projected to be even bigger than the last full one in 2013 ...