Maha Kumbh off to grand beginning, 1.5 crore devotees take holy dip in Sangam on day 1

Lucknow: The Maha Kumbh was off to a grand beginning on Tuesday with an estimated 1.5 crore devotees from across the world taking the holy dip in the sacred waters of Sangam -- the confluence of Ganga, Yamnu and the mythical Saraswati rivers -- on the occasion of ‘Paush Purnima’.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in a post on his official ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) handle that 1.50 crore people, who believed in the Sanatan Dharma, took bath in the sacred ‘Sangam’.

Braving the chilly weather conditions, the devotees had started flocking the Sangam since dawn and within a few hours the confluence was completely filled with the seers, saints, ‘kalpavasis’ and others.

According to the officials, over 80 lakh devotees had taken the holy dip at the Sangam by 11 in the morning.

Many among the devotees also offered ‘puja’ on the bank of the Ganga and later on visited the camps of the seers to attend the religious sermons and other religious events.

The religious songs being delivered through the loudspeakers, the ‘bhajans and keertans’ and religious discourses at different camps of the seers and the chants of ‘Ganga Maiya ki jai’ (hailing the Mother Ganga), the sprawling sandy bank of the Ganga resembled a sea of humanity.

The selfie point near the Hanuman Temple witnessed huge crowds with the devotees being seen clicking their selfies and also with their family members. Many devotees were seen waiting for their number to get to the selfie point.

The officials said that as many as 250 people, who had gone missing in the Fair, were reunited with their families with the help of the ‘Bhula-Bhatka Shivir’ set up for this purpose.

Sources said that two devotees, one each from Assam and Chhattisgarh, died reportedly owing to cold on Sunday while nine others were admitted to the hospitals following complaints of uneasiness and chest pain in the past two days.