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Thousands of believers took a bath in the cold waters of the Ganges River in India despite rising infections this month.
Hindu believers perform the traditional bath over the weekend during the Makar Sankranti festival, which usually falls on January 14, to wash away sins and “free themselves from the cycle of death and rebirth.”
On Friday a large number of devotees dived into the river of the eastern state of West Bengal, at the event which is expected to be attended by a total of 3 million people and culminates on Sagar Island, where the Ganges River flows into the Bay of Bengal.
“As soon as dawn broke, a large number of people had gathered to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges. “To prevent people from overcrowding on the shore, river water was released by drone,” said Mayor Bankim Hazra.
“But both the saints and a large number of believers entered the river as they were far more than the security personnel,” he added.
Even in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Hindu believers led by traditional monk-painted monks and clerics gathered in Sangam, the confluence of three rivers, the Ganges and the mystical Iamuna Saraswati, to attend the Magh Mela festival, a from the holiest pilgrimages of Hinduism.
Millions more Hindus are expected to attend the festival’s rituals over the next 47 days. Most of them will stay on the banks of the Ganges River for almost a month, leading an ascetic life in fasting, believing that they will draw closer to Salvation.
“I do not wear a mask because I can not breathe,” said believer Ram Phal Tripathi as he came out of the river, who had come with his family from a village in Uttar Pradesh.
“Every year I come for the holy bath. “I could not lose it this year either,” he added.
Health experts had demanded that the festival be canceled but the government allowed the continuation by demanding the implementation of safety rules.
Opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi say the festival was allowed because the government seeks not to anger believers who are its biggest supporters, ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh on February 10th.
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