Kumbh Mela will be a massive gathering

MASSIVE crowds are expected to gather at India’s northern city of Haridwar throughout April for the religious festival of Kumbh Mela, despite the country grappling with a Covid-19 surge.

The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at sacred tirthas, or river-ford sites, along the Ganges River in India. This year the government expects over a million pilgrims a day to bathe in the sacred river. More than 5 million people are expected per day on the most auspicious days – April 12, 14 and 21 – for a total of 100 million celebrants.

As a scholar of Hinduism, I celebrate this peaceful mammoth congregation of humanity. Shaped by mythology, astrology and society over the long course of history, this festival is