A man, clutching his chillum, gazes over the throngs of devotees gathered at the world's largest religious festival, Kumba Mela, in Allahabad, India. Millions come during this holiest of Hindu religious festivals to bathe away their sins with a "Holy Dip" in the sacred River Ganges.
This mass pilgrimage of faith, in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river, is the greatest gathering of mankind on earth. Over 130 million attended at this time last year. A literal sea of humanity. They are relentless and unstoppable. Carrying their possessions on their heads, they descend upon Hinduism’s holiest place, the confluence, or Sangam, of India’s two holiest rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna, and a third mystical underground river, the Saraswaiti.
“It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or…
If a man wishes to rid himself of a feeling of unbearable oppression, he may have to take hashish. Fredrich Nietzsche The wandering Sadhus or Holy Men of India find a…
Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Traveling, as I…
Seen here are eight of the ten pontoon bridges pilgrims use to cross the Ganges River in Allahabad in northern India during the Kumbh Mela Festival, which is held once…
Varanasi is sacred to Hindus and also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. To me, it epitomizes India. Life in Varanasi happens on the ghats.The scene…
More from Kumbh Mela. Last time I mentioned attendance was expected to exceed 100 million. Over 30 million were present this past Sunday, February 10, the primary bathing day. By…
Kumbh Mela is the greatest pilgrimage and festival in the Hindu religion. The event is a religious and cultural spectacle which occurs once in 12 years attracting…