A video spread online shows an annual stone-pelting ritual in northern India, contrary to claims by social media posts that presented it as Hindu pilgrims attacking each other at the Kumbh Mela mega-festival.

India's Kumbh Mela festival attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful to Prayagraj in northern Uttar Pradesh state, but footage of an elderly monk making an offering at a shrine that circulated online is unrelated.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended on Wednesday the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela in northern India and immersed himself in the confluence of the sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers, where a stampede claimed the lives of 30 people and left nearly a hundred injured a week ago.

As of February 5, 2025, the total number of devotees who have taken the holy dip since the beginning of the Mela has surpassed 389.7 million.

More than seven people were killed in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian holy city of Prayagraj on Wednesday.

Modi takes a holy dip at Kumbh Mela, a week after a deadly stampede killed 30 and injured nearly 100 in Prayagraj. #KumbhMela #Modi #India

Officials had been preparing for months for the world’s largest religious festival, with around 400 million Hindu pilgrims expected to take part

The world's largest religious gathering, the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, turned deadly Wednesday, with officials confirming at least 30 deaths and 60 people injured in a stampede on the biggest day of the festival.

Kumbh Mela, often called the world’s largest human gathering, is underway in northern India. DW explores a key highlight of the festival, where the sadhus — holy men, revered for their spiritual devotion,