The Largest Religious Event in the World - Maha Kumbh Mela 2013.

Indian Hindu pilgrims bathe at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, Monday Jan. 14, 2013. Millions of Hindu pilgrims took part in the large religious congregation of a period of over a month on the banks of Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela in January 2013, which falls every 12th year.
Sangam, Allahabad: Maha Kumbh, the spellbinding show of faith, began in Allahabad with lakhs of devotees taking a dip at the holy confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti on Monday.
The inaugural day of the two-month-long congregation, often described as the "greatest show on earth", was marked by the first "Shahi Snan" of 13 "akharas" wherein Naga Sadhus - a martial order of ascetics who move about either naked or scantily clad with matted hair and ash smeared bodies - marched to Sangam in processions with their leaders perched atop ornately decorated elephants, horses and chariots and musical bands in attendance in a unique blend of austerity and opulence.
They are to be followed by Nirvani Ani, Digambar Ani and Nirmohi and Naya Udasin, Bara Udasin and Nirmal akharas in the same order fixed during the British period following a violent clash among ascetics of different akharas at a kumbh congregation.The akharas have been allotted fixed time, ranging from 30 minutes to about an hour depending upon the size of their respective procession, for bathing with routes for going to and returning from Sangam so separated as to ward off possibility of members of rival akharas coming in contact with each other.Devotees from across the country had started pouring in since last evening and the influx continues despite cold weather and elaborate security arrangements on account of which bathers are being made to park their vehicles several kilometres away from the holy confluence and reach the Sangam on foot.
It is regarded as a unique spectacle of colour, noise and Hindu devotion.
Millions more are on their way, heading for makeshift accommodation and campsites.
The Maha Kumbh organisers are preparing to receive at least 110 million people from all walks of life, with an average influx of around two million a day.
The festival derives its name from a Hindu belief that gods and demons fought over a pitcher, or "kumbh," of nectar that would give them immortality. The myth says one of the gods ran off with the pot, spilling four drops of nectar. Every three years, festivals are rotated among the four spots where nectar was said to have spilled. The Allahabad festival is considered the most blessed because it is near the confluence of the three rivers sacred to Hindus.
The bathing process was initiated by religious heads of different Hindu monasteries who reached the bathing points, called ghats, riding silver chariots. Some were carried on silver palanquins, accompanied by marching bands. Applause rose from tens of thousands of pilgrims waiting behind barricades as the religious heads set off the ceremony.
The heads of the monasteries threw flowers on the devotees as they shouted "har har gangey," or Long Live Ganges.
The biggest spectacle was that of the Naga sadhus, or ascetics, who raced to the river wearing only marigold garlands in a cacophony of religious chants.
About 50,000 policemen have been deployed to keep order at the festival, fearing everything from terrorist attacks to the ever-present danger of stampedes of pilgrims. Several squads policemen on horseback regulated the flow of pilgrims to and from the bathing ghats.
According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over a nectar that would give them immortality.