Over 50 lakh people are estimated to have taken a dip at the Sangam confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers here on the last of the six shahi snans (royal baths) at the Ardh Kumbh fair on Tuesday.
It was an unusually thick morning as bands of saffron sadhus atop improvised chariots and flanked by their symbolic army of 'Naga Sadhus,' the cynosure of thousands of eyes, converged at the holy sangam.
Thousands of devotees waited along the barricaded paths to be blessed with one glimpse of these 'Naga Sadhus,' some of whom moved on horsebacks, swinging their shining swords and spears in the air, with loud music played by the accompanying bands.
The scene was a repeat of the five previous royal baths at the 42-day-long festival that opened on January 3.
Displaying their excitement, the 'Nagas' once again plunged into the 'Sangam' and them jumping out to smear their naked bodies with ash that they describe as their clothing. The ritual seemed longed than usual on Tuesday. "Yes now we will get this opportunity to bathe in the holiest of holy waters here only after six years, on the occasion of the main 'Kumbh Mela' at Prayag (the old mythological name of Allahabad),"