As of February 5, 2025, the total number of devotees who have taken the holy dip since the beginning of the Mela has surpassed 389.7 million.

More than seven people were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian holy city of Prayagraj on Wednesday.

A video spread online shows an annual stone-pelting ritual in northern India, contrary to claims by social media posts that presented it as Hindu pilgrims attacking each other at the Kumbh Mela mega-festival.

India's Kumbh Mela festival attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful to Prayagraj in northern Uttar Pradesh state, but footage of an elderly monk making an offering at a shrine that circulated online is unrelated.

A senior police officer said at least 30 people died as a crowd panicked at the Hindu Kumbh Mela mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj.

Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.

View of devotees at India’s Maha Kumbh Mela after casualties reported Thousands of ash smeared Hindu holy men lead millions of devotees to take a dip in the icy waters of the holy rivers Ganga Yamuna and Saraswati during the second "Shahi Snan" (royal bath) to mark Mauni Amawasya,