Millions flocked to a sacred riverbank on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival today, and as many as 65 million are expected to dip into the river for a holy bath during the 43-day celebration. 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.
Six days during the first festival of the new millennium are considered particularly auspicious bathing days, including today, which falls during a total lunar eclipse, said the festival director, Jivesh Nandan. By 2 a.m., men, women and children had gathered by the river, some of the men arriving naked or stripped to their underwear and some of the women with shaved heads. Many had daubed ash or sandalwood paste on their foreheads and were slipping offerings of money or food to beggars along the shore. Some brought metal pails to take home some of the sacred water. Others soaked pieces of clothing.