India's Maha Kumbh marks first 'royal bath' with ascetics' holy dip

The Star

Scores of naked Hindu ascetics smeared in holy ash charged into the water of holy rivers in northern India on Tuesday (Jan 14), dreadlocks flying, during the first “royal bath” of the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Scores of naked Hindu ascetics, smeared in holy ash, charged into the water of holy rivers

00:06in northern India on Tuesday, dreadlocks flying, during the first Royal Bath of the Maha Kumbh

00:12Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.

00:15The Royal Bath is a key part of the event, held every 12 years in the city of Prayagraj

00:21in Uttar Pradesh, significant because Hindus believe it confers salvation from the cycle

00:26of birth and death, in addition to absolution of sins.

00:49The dip by the ascetics, who wore only holy beads, though some wielded tridents, spears

00:55or maces, signals the start of the ritual, watched by thousands of devotees.

01:00Earlier, to chants and the beat of drums, the ascetics had moved in procession towards

01:06the water, standing atop decorated trucks, riding horses, or walking.

01:12Nearly 15 million people had taken a ritual dip at the confluence of the rivers Ganga-Yamuna

01:18and the mythical Invisible Saraswati, when the festival, expected to attract more than

01:23400 million people, began on Monday.

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