Kumbh Mela attendees bath in the Ganges

2013-02-15 560

EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL

Thousands of ash smeared Hindu holy men and devotees marked the last Royal Bath of the Kumbh Mela with a dip in the Ganges.

The Kumbh Mela festival, the largest largest gathering of humans at a single place, comes to an end next month.

Up to 100 million pilgrims and Hindu ascetics are expected to attend the two-month festival.

It is held every 12 years in a temporary city covering an area larger than Athens, spread over a wide sandy river bank in Allahabad at the point where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet the Saraswati, a mythical river.

The festival grows in size every time it is held and is considered the world's largest temporary gathering of people.