Two children swim on the flood water after a widespread flash flood at Nalitabari sub district in Sherpur district, Bangladesh, 08 October 2024. According to Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) officials, at least 50,000 people remain stranded in five sub districts in Sherpur despite flood conditions improving. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)

“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)

Residents wade through the flood brought by typhoon Vamco in Manila, the Philippines, on November 12, 2020. Typhoon Vamco, the third powerful cyclone to batter the Philippines in 11 days, made landfall on Wednesday night, unleashed fierce winds and intense rains that triggered landslide, rockslide and flash floods. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua News Agency)

Indonesian men carry their belongings as they wade through the water at a flooded neighborhood following heavy rains in Bekasi, Indonesia, Monday, February 22, 2021. Thousands of residents are being evacuated on the outskirts of Indonesia’s capital amid flooding after the Citarum River embankment broke. (Photo by Achmad Ibrahim/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 photo, a child carries kettles through a flooded street with a woman in Tianjin, China. China says dozens of people have died or gone missing since Monday in massive floods across the country's north. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)

An Afghan man cleans the his courtyard partially submerged in flood water following the flash floods after heavy rainfall in Guzara district of Herat province on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Mohsen Karimi/AFP Photo)

A visitor relaxes in a sleeping module at Tokyo's tube Hotel “Capsule Inn Akihabara” on February 6, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. The two-square-meter sleep modules are equipped with a TV, Radio and Wireless LAN and are priced at 3500 yen per night. Uptil recently it has mainly been the office workers who stay at such tube hotels when they cannot go home, but recently they are attracting many foreign travellers due to their Japanese style. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

A cat sleeps between customers inside “Meow” cafe, where diners can play, interact or adopt cats given away by their former owners or rescued from the streets, in Monterrey, Mexico, May 14, 2016. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)