The 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, running from 13 January to 26 February, is expected to draw around 400 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.

The Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest religious gathering. Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in New Delhi. Hari Kumar covers India, based out of New Delhi.

The Kumbh Mela is the world's largest religious gathering, attracting hundreds of millions of Hindu worshippers. Here's how India prepared—and what happens once it's all over.

It was the peak moment at one of the holiest gatherings on the Hindu calendar — the Maha Kumbh Mela, a 45-day celebration that brings hundreds of millions of the faithful to bathe in the joined ...

More than 400 people died after they were trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954, one of the largest tolls in a crowd-related disaster globally.

The Maha Kumbh Mela, which takes place every 12 years, began on 13 January, with over 400 million people expected to visit before the six-week festival concludes. Key Points ...

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Dozens of worshippers are feared dead and many more injured following a stampede or crush Wednesday at the massive Kumbh Mela religious festival in northern India, according to ...

Every 12 years the festival carries the prefix “Maha,” which means great, as it’s the largest gathering of the Kumbh Mela that’s held every three years in one of four cities.

Devotees walk past the belongings of people caught up in a crowd crush at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India on January 29, 2025. Adnan Abidi/Reuters Number of people created ‘huge pressure’ ...

Item 1 of 5 A devotee takes a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers with the mythical, invisible Saraswati river, during the "Maha Kumbh Mela", or the Great Pitcher ...

"Beyond the sacred dip itself, my experience at the Kumbh Mela revealed something deeper: the collective unity we are always a part of and the need to pause to embrace it." ...