Pratap Garh, teacher. Shown above is a Hindu woman with a pot of water from the Ganges River, praying at the first Kumbh Mela festival of the new millennium. The woman is a Hindu. She is one of the 65 million expected to dip into the holy Ganges River for a holy bath during the 43-day Kumbh Mela festival. The Kumbh Mela festival derives its name from a Hindu story of a battle between gods and demons over a kumbh, or pot, of a divine nectar of immortality.
Legend has it that four drops of nectar spilled from the pot near four blessed cities.
Help students locate India and these rivers on a map or globe. Nearly two million people are estimated to have bathed in the waters during the first six hours of Kumbh Mela, and two million more were expected by the end of that first day. Answers will vary. Praying, fasting, baptism, and confession are some common ways that people of various faiths believe that they can rid themselves of their sins.