80 million in 104 days

About 80 million people bathed in the river Ganges in northern India during the Kumbh Mela festival that lasted 104 days, organisers said on as the event drew to a close.

The Kumbh Mela, which is billed as the largest festival on Earth, attracts Hindus from across the country to the sacred water that they believe washes away their sins and frees them from the cycle of life and rebirth.

The Ganges is especially auspicious during the Kumbh Mela, which is held every three years and rotates among four Indian cities. "Our confirmed total is 80 million bathers along the 15-kilometre (nine-mile) stretch of the river," Ashok Sharma, the Mela's senior press official, told AFP from Haridwar, this year's venue. "The numbers were even bigger than we expected, but the event generally passed off safely due to excellent organisation." He said the only accident that marred the festival was when a car driven by sadhus (holy men) hit and killed two pilgrims, and triggered a stampede in which seven other people died.

The Kumbh Mela ("Pitcher Festival") peaks on three major bathing days when naked, ash-smeared sadhus charge into the water at a time decreed by astrologers.

The spot where they bathe is where the river is said to leave the Himalayan mountains and start its long journey across the plains of northern India before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. It is also where, in Hindu mythology, a few drops from a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality fell during a fight between gods and demons.

The other drops fell at Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain -- the other Kumbh Mela cities. The attendance figures are impossible to verify and some observers suggest they are exaggerated by the host city, but previous Kumbh Mela events are thought to have attracted similar numbers.