PRAYAGRAJ: India’s Kumbh Mela festival wraps up on Wednesday, with final ritual river bathing ceremonies ending six weeks of celebration that organisers say have been attended by hundreds of millions of devotees.
Despite two deadly stampedes that killed dozens, the festival in the northern city of Prayagraj has been hailed as a triumph by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, bolstering its carefully cultivated image as a steward of Hindu resurgence and prosperity.
Both Modi and his ally, firebrand Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath – chief minister of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh where the festival is being held – say the millennia-old Mela has been the “grandest” yet.
Both men themselves took part in the festival, with Modi bathing in the spot where the waters of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet.
The Kumbh Mela is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.
The festival, which opened on January 13, ends on Wednesday, coinciding with the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri, in honour of the deity Shiva.
“Our purpose to visit on Maha Shivaratri was to worship Lord Shiva,” said devotee Shivam Kumar, 21.
Helicopters scattered flower petals on the vast crowds taking part in sacred bathing rituals at dawn. –Agencies
