dipu
14-01-2013, 06:07 PM
Hundreds of thousands of people have been bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers at Allahabad in India, on the opening day of the Kumbh Mela festival.
http://i.imgur.com/eORHs.jpg
India is a land of spectacles, it is a land of teeming millions and a land of an ancient culture and civilisation.
In my long years in India I have seen many spectacles but none so remarkable as the two Maha or Great Kumbh Melas which I attended.
I have seen vast crowds assemble but none as big as the millions who flocked to the north Indian city of Allahabad to bathe at the confluence where the cloudy waters of the river Ganges meet the blue waters of the river Yamuna on the most auspicious day of those Melas.
I have never been more forcefully reminded that India's age old culture survives today than I have been by those two Kumbh Melas.Anyone who wants to enjoy the Kumbh Mela to the full must appreciate its many different aspects. [By Mark Tully Former BBC India Correspondent]
Millions of Hindu pilgrims have arrived in the Indian city of Allahabad as the Kumbh Mela festival gets under way.On Monday thousands began bathing at the point where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers converge, with up to ten million more set to do so over the coming days.
http://i.imgur.com/zFnFg.jpg
The event, which takes place once every 12 years, is billed as the biggest gathering of humanity on Earth.
Kumbh Mela in numbers
Visitors: 80-100 million
Number of days: 55
Area: 20 sq km (4,932 acres)
Drinking water: 80 million litres
Toilets: 35,000
Doctors: 243
Police: 30,000
http://i.imgur.com/eORHs.jpg
India is a land of spectacles, it is a land of teeming millions and a land of an ancient culture and civilisation.
In my long years in India I have seen many spectacles but none so remarkable as the two Maha or Great Kumbh Melas which I attended.
I have seen vast crowds assemble but none as big as the millions who flocked to the north Indian city of Allahabad to bathe at the confluence where the cloudy waters of the river Ganges meet the blue waters of the river Yamuna on the most auspicious day of those Melas.
I have never been more forcefully reminded that India's age old culture survives today than I have been by those two Kumbh Melas.Anyone who wants to enjoy the Kumbh Mela to the full must appreciate its many different aspects. [By Mark Tully Former BBC India Correspondent]
Millions of Hindu pilgrims have arrived in the Indian city of Allahabad as the Kumbh Mela festival gets under way.On Monday thousands began bathing at the point where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers converge, with up to ten million more set to do so over the coming days.
http://i.imgur.com/zFnFg.jpg
The event, which takes place once every 12 years, is billed as the biggest gathering of humanity on Earth.
Kumbh Mela in numbers
Visitors: 80-100 million
Number of days: 55
Area: 20 sq km (4,932 acres)
Drinking water: 80 million litres
Toilets: 35,000
Doctors: 243
Police: 30,000