It’s late evening in the city of Prayagraj and the roadside vendors selling snacks are packing up their wares to shut for the night.

Millions of pilgrims hoping to cleanse their sins by ritual baths at India's Kumbh Mela festival rely on key lavatory workers to clear up behind them -- those born on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system.

Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday.

Vast crowds of Hindu pilgrims in India bathed in sacred waters as the Kumbh Mela festival opened on Monday, with organisers expecting 400 million people -- the world's largest gathering

It’s late evening in the city of Prayagraj and the roadside vendors selling snacks are packing up their wares to shut for the night. Under the large fig trees, between two paved streets, a group

Naked Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are taking holy dips in sacred rivers in the first major bathing day of the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

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.

Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival,

Over about the next six weeks, Hindu pilgrims will gather at the confluence of three sacred rivers where they will take part in elaborate rituals.