00:00Scores of naked Hindu ascetics, smeared in holy ash, charged into the water of holy rivers
00:06in northern India on Tuesday, dreadlocks flying, during the first Royal Bath of the Maha Kumbh
00:12Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.
00:15The Royal Bath is a key part of the event, held every 12 years in the city of Prayagraj
00:21in Uttar Pradesh, significant because Hindus believe it confers salvation from the cycle
00:26of birth and death, in addition to absolution of sins.
00:49The dip by the ascetics, who wore only holy beads, though some wielded tridents, spears
00:55or maces, signals the start of the ritual, watched by thousands of devotees.
01:00Earlier, to chants and the beat of drums, the ascetics had moved in procession towards
01:06the water, standing atop decorated trucks, riding horses, or walking.
01:12Nearly 15 million people had taken a ritual dip at the confluence of the rivers Ganga-Yamuna
01:18and the mythical Invisible Saraswati, when the festival, expected to attract more than
01:23400 million people, began on Monday.
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