Each of these cities has a Purna Kumbh Mela at 12-year intervals. Historians say the practice dates back centuries, and the mela, or festival, has commonly included a conclave of the powerful swamis, gurus and yogis of the day. In recent years, the events seem to be growing ever larger. You listen to them reading the holy texts, hear them speak. The kumbh is part religious observance and part fair, and the property itself takes on many aspects of a fairground.
Vendors sell peanuts in bags made from scraps of newspaper.
A hurdy-gurdy man shows off a pet monkey that does headstands. Overhead flies a huge blue balloon, beseeching the faithful to drink Nescafe. Hundreds of Hindu sects have been given their own campsites. Some billboards and leaflets are written with exceptional confidence, one promising ''the only true teacher of the world,'' another ''the science of absolute knowledge.'' If the festival had a main street, it would be the one housing the major akharas, or religious schools. Their holy men are the ones who lead the procession to the bathing ghats, using an assigned order.