The Kumbh Mela festival, the largest religious gathering in the world, has begun in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj.

Explore Mahakumbh 2025 in Prayagraj, the largest cultural gathering, with 450+ million attendees. Learn about advanced security, AI-powered drones, fire safety, and key facts.

Be ready to brave mammoth crowds (more than 40 crore people will be attending the festivities over the next few weeks) and the cold (temperatures dip till 7 degrees), but if you overcome that, the Maha Kumbh is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, in Prayagraj, is expected to be a one-of-a-kind cultural fest welcoming crores of pilgrims, as well as tourists to take their bath in sacred Ganges.

Over the coming 45 days, an estimated 400 million Hindus are expected to come together for Maha Kumbh Mela. The festival is held every 12 years but the "Maha" or grand Kumbh Mela takes place only every 144 years, "marking the 12th Kumbh Mela and a special celestial alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter", said The Guardian.

The Culture Ministry revealed that underwater drones, capable of diving up to 100 meters, are stationed at the Sangam area for Maha kumbh.

While the Kumbh Mela festival is ordinarly held every three years, rotating between several holy cities on the banks of these rivers, the Maha Kumbh Mela occurs only once every 12 years. Maha means “great”, and the event attracts the most devotees because it is considered the most auspicious and holy in the cycle.

Over 20 million people performed the holy dip ritual at the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in India's northern city of Prayagraj, a local official said on Tuesday (January 14).

Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival,