8 things Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 will be remembered for

The Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 being held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, has been eventful, to say the least. It is one of the largest religious congregations in the world and is expecting 10 million devotees on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Wednesday (February 26), which also marks the culmination of this Hindu religious event.

Throughout 45 days of the Maha Kumbh Mela, which comes every 12 years, there have been some unforgettable events that have shaped Indian society, as the devotees at the Maha Kumbh engage in self-reflection while doing their holy ablutions.

Also read: Why Maha Kumbh needs a commission of inquiry?

Here are 8 things Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 will be remembered for:

1. Starting on a dazzling note, Nita Ambani’s ensemble turned heads as she took the holy dip in Prayagraj. Her dress was a custom-made Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla piece with the names of her children and grandchildren embroidered on the back of her blouse. She kept it classy and trendy with a hint of traditional values weaved into her ensemble.

2. On a less glamorous note, the traffic in Prayagraj was halted for hours due to the massive influx of devotees. A 25 km-long traffic jam on Sunday left devotees stuck for hours till it was finally cleared. Monday recorded the largest number of devotees – 1.3 crore – as the Maha Kumbh Mela is coming to an end on Wednesday.

3. A 16-year-old amber-eyed beauty, Monalisa Bhosle, hogged the limelight during the Maha Kumbh. It resulted in her rise to stardom from being a garland-seller to making her Bollywood debut in “A Diary of Manipur”, which is a testament to the power of online fame and admirers.

4. An elderly 65-year-old man, Chaudhary Sudesh Pal Malik from Muzaffarnagar, took his 92-year-old mother in a bullock cart to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh Mela and was applauded by several people for his filial loyalty. Sudesh said that his knees were reportedly damaged 25 years ago and his mother’s blessings helped him heal, so he wanted to take her for a holy dip at Prayagraj.

5. A heartwarming video of women distributing sanitary pads at the Mela went viral and promoted awareness for female sanitary products. This came after the Yogi Adityanath government’s decision to set up free sanitary pad stations at the spiritual gathering areas.

6. One of the most iconic parts of the Maha Kumbh Mela is the grand procession of the ‘akharas’, or religious orders that participate in grand processions called ‘Peshwai’, which features monks or sadhus on chariots, elephants and horses into the Mela area. It is a major attraction of the festival as it showcases spiritual strength, discipline and the diverse Hindu traditions that exist and are still being followed by different sects of the religion.

Also read: Prayagraj turns into no-vehicle zone for Maha Kumbh Mahashivratri

7. The Ganga River is considered a deity in Hinduism. Devotees watch on the banks of the river as priests offer prayers from Hindu scriptures and dutifully light lamps as a symbolic tribute to the river. It creates a serene atmosphere filled with the silent chants of devotees at peace, and the Vedic chants of priests who perform the rituals with a carefully choreographed offering of flowers, incense and traditional music.

8. The most unforgettable, crowning point of this event has to be the Amrit Snan or Shahi Snan which is the third and final snan of this religious event. Devotees believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers will help them attain salvation and clean them of their ‘sins’. This will happen on Wednesday (February 26), the last day of the Maha Kumbh Mela. Amid all this, there were some moments of grief too, as there was a stampede in Prayagraj on January 29, that left 30 dead and 60 injured, followed by another at the New Delhi railway station on February 15 that claimed 18 lives.