In India, the world's largest religious assembly commences, with an anticipated attendance of hundreds of millions of Hindus.

• The Hindu pitcher festival, known as the Maha Kumbh Mela, commences on Monday in Prayagraj, a city in northern India.
• At least 400 million individuals are anticipated to travel to Prayagraj within the upcoming 45 days, according to officials.
• The festival, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has become a key element of the Bharatiya Janata Party's promotion of Hindu nationalism. It is anticipated that the festival will enhance the party's reputation for supporting Hindu cultural symbols among its voter base. However, critics argue that the party's ideology is based on Hindu supremacy.

On Monday, millions of Hindu devotees, mystics, and holy men and women from all over India gathered in the northern city of Prayagraj to begin the Maha Kumbh festival, which is being advertised as the world's largest religious event.

In the upcoming six weeks, Hindu pilgrims will assemble at the junction of the revered Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers to perform intricate rituals in pursuit of attaining the ultimate objective of Hindu philosophy, which is to break free from the cycle of reincarnation.

Here’s what to know about the festival:

A religious gathering at the confluence of three sacred rivers

The Ganges and Yamuna rivers are highly revered by Hindus, and they believe that bathing in their waters can purify them of their past sins and end their cycle of reincarnation. This belief is particularly strong on auspicious days, which occur in cycles of 12 years during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival.

The festival involves ritual baths by Hindu holy men and pilgrims at the confluence of three sacred rivers, which dates back to medieval times. Hindus believe that the mythical Saraswati river once flowed from the Himalayas through Prayagraj, where it met the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

Every day, monks charge naked and smeared with ash towards holy rivers at dawn, while many pilgrims observe austerity, give alms, and bathe at sunrise during the entire festival.

Bhagwat Prasad Tiwari, a pilgrim, stated, "We experience tranquility here and find liberation from the endless cycles of birth and death."

The Kumbh festival, held in Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain, and Haridwar for centuries, has its origins in a Hindu tradition that claims the god Vishnu defeated demons to obtain a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.

The Kumbh, a grand pilgrimage festival, rotates among four sites every three years according to astrology. This year's festival is the largest and most impressive of them all. In 2019, a smaller version of the festival, called Ardh Kumbh, or Half Kumbh, was organized, with 240 million visitors recorded and about 50 million taking a ritual bath on the busiest day.

Maha Kumb is the world's largest such gathering

Over 400 million people are expected in Prayagraj in the next 45 days, which is more than the population of the United States. This is approximately 200 times the number of pilgrims who went to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage last year.

The festival presents a significant challenge for Indian authorities to demonstrate their capabilities in promoting Hinduism, tourism, and crowd control.

An expansive area beside the rivers has been transformed into a massive tent city with over 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 restrooms. The city is divided into 25 sections and covers 15 square miles, featuring housing, roads, electricity, water, communication towers, and 11 hospitals. Hindu scripture stories are depicted on the city walls through murals.

Besides regular trains, Indian Railways has introduced over 90 special trains to transport devotees during the festival, making nearly 3,300 trips.

In the city, there are currently 50,000 security personnel, which is a 50% increase from 2019. Additionally, over 2,500 cameras, some of which are powered by AI, are being used to monitor crowd movement and density. This information is being sent to four central control rooms, where officials can quickly deploy personnel to prevent stampedes.

The festival will boost Modi's support base

India's past leaders have used the festival to strengthen their relationship with the country's Hindus, who make up nearly 80% of India's more than 1.4 billion people. However, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the festival has become an integral part of the BJP's advocacy of Hindu nationalism. For Modi and his party, Indian civilization is inseparable from Hinduism, although critics argue that the party's philosophy is rooted in Hindu supremacy.

In Uttar Pradesh, led by Adityanath, a prominent Hindu monk and politician, over $765 million has been allocated for this year's festival. The event has been utilized to enhance the image of both Adityanath and the prime minister, with large billboards and posters throughout the city featuring them, along with messages promoting their government's welfare initiatives.

The Kumbh festival is predicted to enhance the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's history of promoting Hindu cultural symbols among its supporters. However, the recent Kumbh gatherings have been embroiled in controversies.

Modi's administration altered the name of the city from Allahabad to Prayagraj as part of its campaign to rename places with Muslim origins to Hindu ones prior to the 2019 celebration and election, which his party won. In 2021, his administration refused to cancel the festival in Haridwar despite a rise in COVID-19 cases, fearing a backlash from religious leaders in the predominantly Hindu nation.