From June last year, Dilip Trigunayak would stride out each morning to the banks of the Ganges and will the holy waters to recede. The clock was ticking. In six months, the floodplains where he stood would be the site of the largest human gathering in the world, probably ever.

“I would watch the water levels going up and down,” the bureaucrat says. “From then my anxiety started.”

More than 120 million Hindu devotees, as well as tourists, are expected to visit the north Indian city of Prayagraj over the next few weeks for the Kumbh Mela, a vast spiritual festival at the point where two sacred rivers, the Ganges and Yamuna, converge.

As the rivers have emptied of monsoon rain in recent months, Indian authorities have swung into action, reclaiming the riverbed and laying the skeleton for a temporary city that at 15 sq miles (39 sq km) is two-thirds the size of Manhattan.

The festival started on Tuesday morning when tens of thousands of Hindu ascetics charged – roaring, naked and ash-smeared – into the water, sanctifying it for the tens of millions of pilgrims who will follow in the coming days and weeks.

Praygraj is said to be one of four sites in India where drops of the essence of immortality were spilled from an urn being fought over by gods and demons. The festival moves between the four locations, with Prayagraj the largest and most lavish. Pilgrims travel from across the country and wait for days for their opportunity to bathe there for a few seconds, including at least 30 million people on the most auspicious day.

“People come here to taste the nectar of immortality,” says Sarabhang Giri, an Australian who was ordained a sadhu, or Hindu saint, in 2004.

With an election looming in India, more earthly matters are also under contemplation. For India’s Hindu nationalist government, the Kumbh’s message of unity across the religion’s castes and innumerable deities dovetails nicely with the ruling Bharatiya Janata party’s goal of consolidating Hindu votes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A thick layer of dust is seen over the tent city set up for the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, on Monday. Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

This is the first Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj since the city’s Mughal-era name of Allahabad was changed. No Kumbh Mela has ever been so well funded, or so heavily promoted in the media and on billboards, invariably alongside the face of Narendra Modi, India’s Hindu nationalist prime minister.

“In many recent Kumbhs there’s always been a political presence of some sort,” says Kama Maclean, an associate professor of south Asian history at the University of New South Wales. “For most people who go it’s a religious event. But from the 1930s people were going to the Kumbh Mela, bathing in the Ganga, and then going up [India’s first prime minister] Jawaharlal Nehru’s house and learning about nationalism.”

Pilgrims at the Unesco-listed festival will traverse a pop-up city of more than 185 miles (300km) of roads, nearly two-dozen pontoon bridges, a hospital, 40 police stations and 120,000 toilets. At night, the city is illuminated by more than 40,000 lights. Last Sunday a parade of Hindu ascetics on elephants and camels passed billboards advertising matrimonial websites and the Kumbh’s free wifi.

The core of the festival is the estimated 200,000 Hindu saints in attendance, many of whom emerge from seclusion in forests and mountains to take up residency in the tent city, where they perform prayers, administer blessings and lecture on Hindu scripture.

Many belong to one of the 13 major sects represented at the fair, first formed as militant defenders of Hindu temples, and who in the past have turned their fire on each other to determine who bathes in the holy river first.

“They have physically fought over the order,” says Giri. “Thousands of people have died in Kumbh Melas through history. Now they’ve worked out treaties saying this is the order in which we do it, and if there’s any change, there has to be big discussions.”

As well as keeping the peace between holy orders, organisers must work to ward off disease. Some epidemiologists and historians trace the first cholera pandemic of the 19th century to 1817’s Kumbh Mela, from where the infection spread via colonial British naval ships to rest of Asia, Europe and eventually the United States.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A pilgrim prays at Sangam. The authorities will try to keep the waters flowing at an optimum speed. Photograph: Bernat Armangué/AP

Apart from building toilets, and deploying an army of more than 9,000 “night sweepers” to collect or treat waste, authorities try to keep the river flowing at an optimum speed of at least 200,000 litres a second: fast enough to avoid stagnation, but not too quick that it washes away bathers.

Stampedes are another constant threat. Thirty-six people where killed by a crush at a Prayagraj train station at the most recent event. In 1954, an elephant charged a dense crowd, killing more than 500 people.

Why the Kumbh Mela in Prayahraj is the festival to end all festivals Read more

The key to public safety is to keep the mammoth crowds moving, says Devesh Chaturvedi, the chief public servant who organised Prayagraj’s last Kumbh Mela in 2013. “Even if the water is 500 metres away, we have a system where the pilgrims can be moved for another three or four kilometres. People won’t worry about how much they have to walk. But after five or six hours of walking they should finally get their dip.”

One pilgrim, Devi Prasad, says he has walked hundreds of miles by foot from his village in Bihar state to bathe in the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna. A few more hours on foot is no trouble, the 63-year-old adds. “If you want to get close to God, you have to walk.”</s>Elephants, horses and an expected crowd of more than 120 million people began to descend on Prayagraj, India, Tuesday, marking the beginning of Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering.

The 49-day holy festival takes place in the northern city of Prayagraj at the confluence of the two rivers considered sacred to Hindus: the Ganges and the Yamuna, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Devotees believe that a dip in the rivers can absolve them of their sins.

The Indian government has said that it expects millions of people from across India and abroad to visit the area, easily making it the largest gathering of people for a religious event anywhere in the world. By comparison, approximately 2.4 million people gathered in Mecca for the Hajj last year, according to the BBC.

Ten million people are expected take a dive into the river on Tuesday, according to officials.

“It is the biggest confluence of faith and culture,” Vijay Kiran Anand, a senior officer from the Indian Administrative Service who is in charge of the Kumbh Mela, told ABC News from Prayagraj. “It is a demonstration of India’s capability to deliver in terms of infrastructure, mass gathering events and governance. It is also India’s story and India’s heritage that we can project to the world.”

The total cost of this year’s festival for the Indian government is close to $563 million, according to officials -- almost four times the money spent on the last Kumbh Mela, held in 2016.

“We have spent that money on development and infrastructure in Prayagraj,” said Anand. “Most of it is permanent works, building of roads and bridges for [the] enhancement of the city.”

Roughly 150 new roads have been created in the area, as well as 500 miles of new water pipelines, 54 electricity substations, 40,000 LED lights, 100,000 toilets, 20,000 dustbins, 200 vehicles, 22 bridges, and parking areas to accommodate an estimated 500,000 vehicles.

The police aren’t taking any chances either.

KP Singh, the deputy inspector general of police in the state of Uttar Pradesh, told ABC News that a total of 20,000 police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order during the festival. Previous Kumbh Melas have been marred by stampedes because of poor crowd control.

“This time, we are using CCTVs, have created an integrated crowd control station with 11,000 cameras keeping an eye on the crowds,” Singh told ABC News. “With all the inputs that come in, we are able to use traffic management techniques to direct crowds and keep the festival safe.”

He added that police were also working with apps like E-cop, which allows complaints to be registered online.

"Even a missing persons report can be filed via the app and we can trace and reunite lost family members," Singh said.

The government has also created medical facilities, and a 100-bed hospital.

“Just like any other district, there are emergency numbers and responders here," Shivshankar Mahadevan, a police official, told ABC News.

But apart from more earthly concerns like police and crowd control, devotees describe the festival as a spiritually uplifting life event.</s>The largest gathering of humanity on the planet began Tuesday, with tens of millions showered in rose petals and holy ash at a spectacular Hindu festival on India's sacred riverbanks.

The Kumbh Mela is expected to attract more than 100 million pilgrims to Allahabad over the next seven weeks to bathe in waters considered among the holiest in Hinduism.

Allahabad rises alongside the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, and the banks of these hallowed rivers have transformed into a riot of colour for the centuries-old festival.

A gigantic tent city has emerged near the confluence of the rivers, where Hindus believe bathing during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.

Before dawn thousands of naked holy men smeared in ash, some on horseback, proceeded toward the rivers' meeting point known as "Sangam".

The "naga sadhus" plunged into the chilly waters before the sun rose, as nearby devotees chanted praises to the Hindu deity Shiva.

"This is the purpose of my life," said Sadhu Sridhar, reapplying a grey ash to his body after emerging from the waters.

Throughout the day, millions of pilgrims will queue in huge processions for their chance to plunge into the waters in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

"I do not know whether my prayers were accepted, but I am satisfied after taking a dip," said Narendranath Chakraborty, a 72-year-old who travelled from Kolkata in India's east.

The last major gathering in Allahabad in 2013 drew an astonishing 120 million people, organisers said.

Thirty million devotees -- more than the entire population of Australia -- are said to have bathed on a single auspicious day.

A helicopter dropped rose petals Tuesday on an endless sea of dreadlocked sadhus smoking marijuana, priests offering blessings in saffron robes and pilgrims from every corner of India.

"All the Gods descend on this sacred place during this period. This is the most auspicious event for any human being," said Chandhans Pandey, a 60-year-old devotee.

"I have been planning to attend (for) many years."

Nearly 30,000 police have been deployed to oversee crowds for the huge undertaking, and prevent stampedes that have marred previous gatherings.

Patrol drones buzzed over a 45-square kilometre encampment set aside specially for pilgrims -- a temporary city three-quarters the size of Manhattan.

Restaurants, roads and marketplaces have sprung up to cater to the huge influx of visitors, along with 122,000 toilets and 300 kilometres of road.

Festival veteran Ganeshanand Bharamachari, from nearby Varanasi, said the Kumbh had grown in popularity in recent years.

"People, mostly from cities, are becoming increasingly religious because the western life they were living has not led them anywhere," the 78-year-old told AFP.

The Uttar Pradesh state government, led by a firebrand Hindu priest, has heavily promoted this year's festival, which comes as India prepares for a general election due by May.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is in power in Uttar Pradesh, visited Allahabad in December to inaugurate a high-tech command centre to manage the Kumbh.

The historic city was even renamed Prayagraj in October by the state's conservative government, stripping its centuries-old name and replacing it with an ancient Hindu title.

But it is still widely known as Allahabad, the name given by Islamic rulers that reigned over India hundreds of years ago.

According to Hindu mythology, gods and demons fought a war over a sacred pitcher, or kumbh, containing the nectar of immortality.

During the tussle, a few drops fell to earth at four different locations -- one being Allahabad.

The Kumbh, which runs until March 4, was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2017.</s>PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) - Pilgrims from across the world are gathering in India for the Kumbh Mela, a heady mix of spirituality, politics and tourism that begins on Tuesday, garnering extra attention ahead of a general election in the Hindu-majority country this year.

During the eight-week festival at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, authorities expect up to 150 million people, including a million foreign visitors, to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.

Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh Mela, or the “festival of the pot”, brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

“Kumbh is a conglomeration of spiritual consciousness and cultural heritage,” Mahesh Sharma, who heads the culture ministry, said in a statement.

“We are also showcasing here India’s rich traditions, as visualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

On Tuesday millions of pilgrims, led by naked, ash-smeared ascetics, some of whom live in caves, will plunge themselves into the icy waters during the first Shahi Snan, or Royal Bath, that begins around 4 a.m. (2230 GMT).

With less than 24 hours until the festival starts, the last of the arriving ascetics paraded towards temporary ashrams, or monasteries, built of corrugated steel and canvas on the eastern banks of the Ganges, many decked in fairy lights.

Pilgrims poured in to the site, which is closed to traffic around bathing days, carrying bundles on their heads, while vendors peddled neon balloons and cotton candy, as securitymen stood guard, with priests and armed police seated side-by-side.

Authorities have set up temporary bridges, 600 mass kitchens and more than 100,000 portable toilets in a pop-up city at the confluence of the rivers, which is known as the sangam.

Those with cash can make their pick of luxury campsites on the river banks that offer ayurvedic spas and yoga that cost up to 32,000 rupees ($454.09) each night.

Most of the pilgrims make do with more modest lodgings, sleeping in vast tents or out in the open.

“I don’t know where I will stay yet, but you do not often get to meet these saints and sadhus,” said Rajendra Singh, a retired soldier now working as a security guard, who rode a bus from the state capital, Lucknow, about 200 km (124 miles) away.

This year’s event comes at a critical time for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), expected to face a tough contest in a general election due to be held by May.

It lost power in three key states in assembly elections in December, and will want to avoid a similar result during the general election in Uttar Pradesh, a state of 220 million where a good showing can often decide the contest.

The state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, is a firebrand Hindu monk from the BJP, who has championed policies that play to the party’s core Hindu base.

This year Adityanath has transformed a smaller Ardh, or “half” Kumbh Mela, into a full version of the festival.

He has also lobbied for a controversial Hindu temple on the site of a former mosque, and renamed several cities - including Prayagraj, which used to be known as Allahabad until it got its new name in October.

Modi and his rival, opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, are both expected to attend the festival before it wraps up in March.</s>India's Kumbh Mela religious festival is set to begin on Tuesday, with some tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims congregating in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The event will take place over the next 48 days and organizers have said they expect the spiritual festival to attract more than 100 million devotees.

Translating to "festival of the sacred pitcher," it is the largest religious gathering in the world and it was added to UNESCO's list of intangible human heritage in 2017. Kumbh Mela rotates between four locations every three years, based on astrological positions.

Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) is the location of this year's festival, where the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, along with the mythical Saraswati rivers, is considered holy.

Hindus believe that bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.

Read more: How India's sacred cows are creating havoc on the streets

Naked, dread-locked holy men smeared in ash and sadhus wearing saffron robes will wander the crowds and offer blessings to pilgrims who make the trek from various parts of the country to take part in the ritual dip.

Some 30,000 police have been deployed to oversee crowds for the huge event and to prevent stampedes, which have marred Kumbh gatherings in the past.

Pilgrims will camp out across a sprawling zone that the city has designated for the festival, which will have restaurants, roads and marketplaces along the river.

India's Hindu nationalist-led government has paid particular attention to the festival this year. The state has spent unprecedented sums on the Kumbh, as part of a strategy to focus on the country's majority Hindu population on the eve of a general election this year.

The Uttar Pradesh state government, which is led by a Hindu priest, has also heavily promoted this year's Kumbh. His face and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi appear on posters at the entrance to the Kumbh, and throughout the 3,200-hectare (7,907-acre) fairgrounds, touting government programs for the community.

"The vision of the government was to make sure that the Indian heritage, the Indian culture, the Kumbh heritage which actually personifies what India is, is shown to the entire world," said Vijay Anand, an Indian civil servant and the head Kumbh official.

The historic city of Allahabad was also renamed to Prayagraj in October by the Uttar Pradesh government. The move sought to replace the centuries-old Muslim moniker with an ancient Hindu title.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>An expected 12 million people will descend on Allahabad to bathe in holy rivers for the centuries-old festival (AFP Photo/CHANDAN KHANNA)

Hindu devotees began gathering Sunday in northern India for the world's largest religious festival, with millions of pilgrims travelling to bathe in holy rivers for the spectacular Kumbh Mela.

State authorities in Uttar Pradesh are expecting 12 million visitors to descend on Allahabad for the centuries-old festival, which officially begins Tuesday and continues until early March.

The ancient city rises alongside the banks of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, and the meeting point of the three is considered highly sacred in Hinduism.

Hindus believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and frees the soul from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Two days before the gigantic bathing ritual begins, naked holy men wandered the banks smeared in ash, offering blessings for devotees.

"We help devotees get rid of their pains and troubles through our blessings, sacred ash, yoga, knowledge and wisdom," said Prahlad Puri, a holy man with his long knotted hair tied in a bun.

"We distribute food, we serve the poor."

According to Hindu mythology, gods and demons fought a war over a sacred pitcher, or kumbh, containing the nectar of immortality.

During the tussle, a few drops fell to earth at four different locations -- one being Allahabad.

The historic city was recently renamed Prayagraj by the state's conservative Hindu government but is still widely known by Allahabad, the name it was given by Muslim rulers hundreds of years ago.

The Mela, which runs until March 4, was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2017.</s>
• Kumbh Mela, an eight-week religious festival, begins Tuesday in in Prayagraj, India.
• Authorities expect 150 million people to make a pilgrimage to bathe at the confluence of three rivers: the Ganges, Yamuma, and a third mythical river, the Saraswati.
• Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh Mela.
• More than 80% of India's 1.3 billion people are Hindus, and this year's event comes at a critical time for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
• Modi is expected to face a tough contest in a general election due by May. He and his rival, Rahul Gandhi, are both expected to attend the festival before it wraps up in March.

PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) - Pilgrims from across the world are gathering in India for the Kumbh Mela, a heady mix of spirituality, politics and tourism that begins on Tuesday, garnering extra attention ahead of a general election in the Hindu-majority country this year.

During the eight-week festival at Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities expect up to 150 million people, including a million foreign visitors, to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.</s>ALLAHABAD, INDIA (AFP) - The largest religious gathering anywhere on earth gets underway Tuesday (Jan 15), with tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims congregating in India to bathe in sacred rivers for the Kumbh Mela.

Organisers are expecting the enormous spiritual festival in Allahabad to attract more than 100 million devotees over the next 48 days, with seas of pilgrims camped by the riverside.

The ancient city in northern Uttar Pradesh state rises alongside the banks of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers.

The confluence of the three - known as Sangam - is considered especially holy and Hindus believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.

"This pilgrimage gives me peace of mind and an opportunity to reflect on my life," said Sangeeta Gangotri, a pilgrim who travelled 650km from Nagpur in western Maharashtra state to Allahabad.

The riverbank has transformed into a riot of noise and colour.

Naked, dread-locked holy men smeared in ash and sadhus clad in saffron robes wander the crowds, offering blessings to pilgrims who have travelled from every corner of India for the ritual dip.

"All the Gods descend on this sacred place during this period. This is the most auspicious event for any human being," said Chandhans Pandey, a 60-year-old devotee.

"I have been planning to attend (for) many years."

The last major gathering in Allahabad in 2013 drew 120 million devotees, organisers said - with 30 million plunging into the holy waters on a single auspicious day.

Nearly 30,000 police have been deployed to oversee crowds for the huge undertaking, and prevent stampedes that have marred previous gatherings.

A tent city with restaurants, roads and marketplaces has sprung up along the river, with pilgrims camped out across a sprawling 45-square kilometre zone specially earmarked for the Kumbh.

"More people are drawn to the Kumbh now," Ganeshanand Bharamachari, a 78-year-old pilgrim from nearby Varanasi and a Kumbh veteran, told AFP.

"People, mostly from cities, are becoming increasingly religious because the western life they were living has not led them anywhere."

The Uttar Pradesh state government, led by a firebrand Hindu priest, has heavily promoted this year's Kumbh, which comes as India prepares for a general election in April and May.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is in power in Uttar Pradesh, visited Allahabad in December to inaugurate a high-tech command centre to manage the Kumbh.

The historic city was even renamed Prayagraj in October by the state's conservative government, stripping its centuries-old Muslim moniker and replacing it with an ancient Hindu title.

But the city is still widely known as Allahabad, the name given by Islamic rulers that reigned over India hundreds of years ago.

The Mela, which runs until March 4, was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by Unesco in 2017.</s>PRAYAGRAJ, India: Pilgrims from across the world are gathering in India for the Kumbh Mela, a heady mix of spirituality, politics and tourism that begins on Tuesday (Jan 15), garnering extra attention ahead of a general election in the Hindu-majority country this year.

During the eight-week festival at Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities expect up to 150 million people, including a million foreign visitors, to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.

Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh Mela, or the "festival of the pot", brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

"Belief is what brings us here, to bathe in the waters despite the cold," said Ram Krishna Dwivedi, making his way back from the shore dressed in flowing white robes.

More than 80 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people are Hindus, many of them deeply religious despite an increasingly Westernised middle class.

On Tuesday, millions of pilgrims, led by naked, ash-smeared ascetics, some of whom live in caves, will plunge themselves into the cold waters during the first Shahi Snan, or Royal Bath, that begins at around 4 am local time.

With less than 24 hours until the festival starts, the last of the arriving ascetics paraded towards temporary ashrams, or monasteries, built of corrugated iron and canvas, many bedecked with fairy lights, on the east bank of the Ganges.

Pilgrims poured in to the site, which is closed to traffic around bathing days, carrying bundles on their heads, while vendors peddled balloons and candy floss, as security men stood guard, with priests and police seated side-by-side.

Authorities have set up temporary bridges, 600 mass kitchens and more than 100,000 portable toilets in a pop-up city at the confluence of the rivers, which is known as the sangam.

Those with cash can stay at luxury campsites on the river banks that offer ayurvedic spas and yoga, and cost up to 32,000 rupees (US$455) a night.

Most pilgrims make do with more modest lodgings, sleeping in big communal tents or out in the open.

"I don't know where I will stay yet, but you do not often get to meet these saints and sadhus," said Rajendra Singh, a retired soldier and now a security guard, who came by bus from the state capital, Lucknow, about 200km away.

On Monday, a small fire broke out at one of the camps, though there was no report of any casualty, according to Reuters partner ANI. Authorities later warned pilgrims about open fires.

This year's event comes at a critical time for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), expected to face a tough contest in a general election due by May.

It lost power in three key states in assembly elections in December, and will want to avoid a similar result during the general election in Uttar Pradesh, a state of 220 million where a good showing can often decide the outcome.

The state's chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, is a firebrand Hindu priest from the BJP, who has championed policies that play to the party's core Hindu base.

This year Adityanath has transformed a smaller Ardh, or "half" Kumbh Mela, into a full version of the festival.

He has also lobbied to build a Hindu temple on the site of a former mosque, and renamed several cities with Hindu names - including Prayagraj, which was Allahabad until October.

Modi and his rival, opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, are both expected to attend the festival before it wraps up in March.</s>Hindu devotees taking a holy dip at Sangam - the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers - during the auspicious bathing day of Makar Sankranti at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

[ALLAHABAD] More than 20 million Hindu pilgrims ritually bathed in India's holy rivers on the opening day of the Kumbh Mela, a gigantic festival billed as the world's largest human gathering.

The spectacular seven-week festival began Tuesday in Allahabad, an ancient city that rises alongside the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

The meeting point of these rivers is considered among the holiest places in Hinduism and devotees believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, whose Hindu nationalist government is overseeing the enormous event, said 22.5 million Hindus plunged into the icy waters on the first day of the Kumbh.

"I thank all the visitors, religious leaders, common man and officials for the smooth conduct of the mega event," he told the Press Trust of India news agency on Wednesday.

Mr Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu priest who rose to lead India's most populous state in 2017, said the opening day figures were "a record" for the centuries-old festival.

The Kumbh attracts astonishing numbers of visitors, outstripping the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca or any other large-scale gathering.

Kumbh organisers say the last major gathering in Allahabad in 2013 drew 120 million people - nearly the population of Japan.

Nearly 30,000 police have been deployed to oversee crowds for the huge undertaking, and prevent stampedes that have marred previous gatherings.

A gigantic tent city has emerged near the banks of the hallowed rivers with a 45-square kilometre encampment set aside specially for pilgrims.

Mr Adityanath, who hails from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, has heavily promoted this year's festival which comes as India prepares for a general election due by May.

The historic city of Allahabad was even renamed Prayagraj in October by the state's conservative government, stripping its centuries-old name and replacing it with an ancient Hindu title.

But it is still widely known as Allahabad, the name given by Islamic rulers that reigned over India hundreds of years ago.

The Kumbh, which runs until March 4, was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by Unesco in 2017.
The largest human gathering in the world, the Kumbh Mela festival, starts at Prayagraj (previously known as Allahabad), India. More than 120 million Hindu devotees, as well as tourists, are expected.