In Pictures: Tens of thousands of India’s Hindus take a holy dip

Officials expect 2.5 million people for Maha Shivratri festival, one of three auspicious bathing days during Kumbh Mela.

Naked, dreadlocked holy men, known as Naga Sadhus, were among tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims who have thronged the banks of India’s Ganges river, ignoring any coronavirus threat, for one of the nation’s most famous and colourful religious festivals. Authorities in Haridwar expect 2.5 million people for the Maha Shivratri festival, one of the three auspicious bathing days over the next month as part of a major gathering called the Kumbh Mela (Pitcher Festival). Before dawn on Thursday, men, women and children jostled for space along the several kilometres of riverbank before a brief plunge in the fast-flowing water, singing hymns and showering flowers into the Ganges.