Maha Kumbh 2025: Millions throng temple town in Prayagraj for 'Mauni Amavasya'

Lucknow: Prayagraj is bursting at the seams a day before the second ‘Amrit Snan’ on the occasion of ‘Mauni Amavasya’ on Wednesday as millions of devotees throng the religious town forcing the authorities to deploy additional security personnel.

Pictures showing a sea of humanity on the roads and heading toward the ‘sangam’ (the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers) in Prayagraj went viral on social media platforms on Tuesday.

Triveni Marg, Kali Marg, Nag Vasuki Road, Jhusi Road and other Sangam boudi roads were packed with crowds of devotees. The entire Mela area has been declared a ‘no vehicle zone’.

Vehicles coming to Prayagraj from different parts of the state and country were being parked well outside the town, reports said. Barricades have been erected on different roads leading to the Sangam for better crowd control.

The officials said that the Integrated Control & Command Centre would be monitoring the crowd at the Sangam Nose area. They said that five thousand additional security personnel would be deployed in Maha Kumbh in view of the large crowd of devotees on Mauni Amavasya.

They also added that an estimated three crore devotees took holy dip at the 'sangam' in the past two days. The Amrit Snan for Mauni Amavasya would begin late on Tuesday night.

The two other important and nearby religious towns - Varanasi and Ayodhya - also witnessed huge crowds of devotees in the past two days prompting the officials to introduce crowd control measures.

In Ayodhya, long queues of devotees were seen for darshan at the Ram temple, while in Varanasi the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple remained open till late night on Monday to enable the devotees to pay obeisance there.