Record 120 million wash away sins as India festival ends

[FarCenter]

A record 120 million pilgrims washed away their sins with plunges in an Indian holy river during the world's biggest religious festival set to end Sunday, officials said.

The two-month-long Kumbh Mela Hindu festival celebrated every 12 years at the conjunction of two sacred rivers on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad drew massive crowds of Hindu devotees, ascetics and foreign tourists.

"Over 60 million people attended the festival in 2001 and this time we believe 120 million people have participated," festival chief Mani Prasad Mishra told AFP late on Saturday.

...

Assorted dreadlocked, naked holy men, priests and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country assembled for the spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying range of Indian spiritualism.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130309-record-120-million-wash-away-sins-india-festival-ends

[Trajan]

1. As an atheist, I can only wonder ....

Who could think a polluted river filled with raw sewage is holy?, let alone swimable ...

[Apophis]

2. A dirty, polluted river can magically wash away sins?

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Isn't there a danger that you'll pick up the sins of someone upstream from you?

Or something real and deadly.

[Honeycombe8]

4. I'd give it a try, except...yewwwwww. That water must be nasty. nt