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As the sun set on the sangam, the sacred meeting point of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers on Tuesday, there was a mood of jubilation on the banks. This was the eve of one of the holiest days of the Kumbh Mela festival – the largest religious gathering not only in India but the world – and millions upon millions had made long, often arduous journeys to immerse themselves in the water.
“It seems like the entire country has come to the sangam to bathe,” exclaimed Rubi Kumar, 43, sandwiched tightly with fellow devotees on the riverbank. She had taken a 36-hour train from her home state of Bihar, and then walked 25 miles to reach this spot. Still dripping wet from her first holy dip, she beamed widely as she tied up her soft pink sari.
“It was such a struggle to get here but now it feels like all the pain and agony has gone,” said Kumar. “It’s one of the most beautiful days of my life.” She planned to take one more dip at about 3am the next morning – the most auspicious time, on Wednesday – and then head hundreds of miles back home.
The potent belief among the Hindu devotees gathering that evening was that to be cleansed in the sangam waters over the next few hours – a period known as Mauni Amavasya, marking a new moon – was to free their body of past sins and relinquish the endless cycle of birth and death. Some wept as they entered the freezing river, while others shouted out in euphoria or whispered prayers as they scattered flowers and poured cups of milk into the holy waters.
The Kumbh Mela comes round just once every 12 years in the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj, but this year was deemed particularly special as it was the “Maha” or great Kumbh Mela, marking the 12th in a row, which comes just once every 144 years amid a special alignment of the sun, moon, Jupiter and Saturn. By the government’s own projections, 400 million people are expected to attend by the time it finishes in February, the largest crowd in its history.
It had taken 45-year-old Vipul Rajgor and six members of his family 14 hours to drive through the night from Gujarat to be here, but he was nothing short of overwhelmed at the experience. “To be alive and here for this day is the greatest gift of my life,” said Rajor.
Nearby, families sat spread out in a colourful mass across the ground, passing around rotis and chai, and birds swooped over the small fishing boats taking devotees out for a gentle evening river ride. Gayatri Devi Kushwa, 30, said the sacred water was icy cold as she dipped in with her five-year-old son, Deepanshu, “but it felt incredibly peaceful. I never wanted to get out.”
Yet within just a few hours, these joyous scenes would turn into a deadly human crush. As darkness fell over the vast makeshift camp on Tuesday evening, more and more devotees poured into the festival site to bathe at the sangam during Mauni Amavasya. People squashed into the square kilometre of land known as the “sangam nose”, trying to reach the riverbank with increasing desperation.
By nightfall, messages were broadcast from loudspeakers telling devotees to only take two dips – “a third dip is a sin” – and then leave the area immediately. Police began to usher families sitting by the river to take their holy bath early and then move on.
Many present at the scene said what unfolded next was “inevitable”. It was after 1am, as people poured in from several directions, that chaos and confusion took over and bathers going to the river collided with those returning. Barriers erected by police were pushed over and people began to panic, trying to shove their way out.
Those stuck in the swelling press of bodies described sudden surges that pushed people to the ground, where they were trodden beneath thousands of feet, and many found themselves unable to get back up. Families sitting on the floor, many with small children fast asleep, were separated or crushed beneath the surging mass. Baljeet Singh, whose wife, Mira, died after she was pulled from his hand, told Indian media: “There was no way we could save ourselves.”
Witnesses said the police seemed helpless to intervene or control the crowd. By the time the scene had been cleared over an hour later by police and paramilitaries, dozens of bodies lay strewn on the riverbank and the wails of injured people could be heard alongside the ring of ambulance sirens. Detritus of the tragedy, including lost shoes and muddied shawls, lay scattered across the sacred banks.
Uttar Pradesh police said nearly 18 hours later that the crowd crush had cost the lives of at least 30 devotees and injured at least 60 others.
The Kumbh Mela is seen by the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as a compelling symbol of Hindu unity and power that aligns neatly with their Hindu nationalist political agenda, and the party invested vast resources in putting on and publicising this year’s festival – attracting large numbers of pilgrims. The most visible face at the festival, beaming down every 200 metres from posters and cutouts like that of a high priest, was of prime minister Narendra Modi.
“The Kumbh Mela has become a huge PR exercise for the government,” said Dinesh Giri, a high priest of one of the Hindu monastic sects, known as akharas, who form the spiritual centrepiece of the festival. “Hindus who would never have come before are coming in huge numbers because it’s all over the media and online. Everyone wants to come and take selfies at the Kumbh Mela.”
On Wednesday, as the state government refused to officially confirm the number of those killed, they were still keenly releasing hourly updates of visitor numbers taking a “royal dip”, which they claimed had hit 76 million by the end of the day.
Yet even beneath the cloud of tragedy, the Kumbh Mela festivities continued uninterrupted. On Thursday morning at the sangam, bathers continued to arrive unfazed, though many families stayed tethered together with string. “Nothing could keep me away,” said one 49-year-old pilgrim, Muni Bhai.
