“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“Hello! My name is Kindra, and photography, over the last six months has become a happily all-consuming activity for me. Through my photos and creation of them, I escape into another world entirely, and then share that world with others. It brings me unending amounts of joy, and I never plan to stop!”. – Kindra Nikole

Photo: “Where the Summer Grass Leads”. (Photo by Kindra Nikole)

A wounded Palestinian boy reacts at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 1, 2024. (Photo by Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

Sport category, winner: Yuan Peng. Liu Bingqing and Liu Yujie are twin sisters who have studied and trained in gymnastics since their early childhood in Jining, China. (Photo by Yuan Peng/Sony World Photography Awards)

Actress Laila Rouass poses during a studio shoot ahead of the new series of “Footballers Wives” at a London studio on January 28, 2004 in London. Rouass plays Conrad's bisexual wife Amber, and the nine-part series begins on ITV1 on February 11, 2004. (Photo by Stephen Perry/Getty Images)

A storm trooper feeds a walker in the grass, taken in Glasgow, Scotland, December 2016. Tiny Storm Troopers and a mini Darth Vader are captured doing everyday activities – from taking a bath, to wrapping presents. Scottish Artist and Photographer, David Giliver created these scenes over a period of two years using toys and miniature props. (Photo by David Gilliver/Barcroft Images)

People kiss before the start of the Carmelitas street party on the first day of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, February 9, 2024. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

Some of the best entries so far in the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. There are two weeks left to enter, and the winners will be announced in September. Here: Aurora over Laksvatn Fjord, Laksvatn, Norway. The aurora borealis dances in the skies over the town of Laksvatn, with the Milky Way to the left. The image is a single shot with no compositing, only post-processing to bring out the aurora, and some colour corrections. The photographer Matt Walford said: “I love the way the northern lights look like they are just wistfully dancing over the fjord, framed by the mountains on either side”. (Photo by Matt Walford/National Maritime Museum)