India's Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, is set to be the world's largest gathering of humanity, with 400 million visitors expected at the six-week event that began this week in the northern city of Prayagraj.

Touted as an event for spiritual purificationin Hinduism, Kumbh Mela takes place approximately every 12 years at four locations -.Kumbh Mela, Maha Kumbh Mela, Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, Haridwar Kumbh Mela,

Held every 12 years, the Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival, as the religious event in the city of Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh is called, attracts more than 400 million visitors, both Indians and tourists.

Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival begins in India on Monday, a Hindu sacred event that will be the world's largest gathering of humanity as it showcases religion, spirituality, tourism and crowd management.

The Kumbh originates in a Hindu belief that four drops of the nectar of immortality fell to earth, one in Prayagraj, during a battle between the god Vishnu, known as the Preserver, and demons over a golden pitcher holding the elixir.

Scores of naked Hindu ascetics smeared in holy ash charged into the water of holy rivers in northern India yesterday, dreadlocks flying, during the first “royal bath” of the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.

Vast crowds of Hindu pilgrims in India began bathing in sacred waters on Monday as the Kumbh Mela festival opened, with organisers expecting 400 million people — the largest gathering

India began on Monday its Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, which is expected to draw more than 400 million visitors to the northern city of Prayagraj over six weeks, making for the largest gathering of humanity in the world.