• This photo feature has personal experiences & pictures of Maha Kumbh 2025. We express gratitude to government, security and those who gave Prasad (food) to devotees. Kumbh organization is a result of faith, skill and hard work.

Matter by Chaitanya. Images by Chaitanya C, Mahesh V and Ramesh V. eSamskriti is grateful to all of them for sharing.

So, after about 48 hours of returning back from the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 at Prayagraj, if there is one thing I will remember the Kumbh for – it is this unique combination of energy + peace!!!

Nearly everyone there was peaceful and happy. It’s like everyone seems to have gotten whatever they came to the Kumbh for – peace/washed sins/selfies/ moksh/voyeurism/instagram content/tourism/fulfillment/ etc. 

And while this was happening, there was an incredible energy all over the place. I did not see a single slacking person. The cops (despite their 12-16 hour shifts) were charged. So were the volunteers and shopkeepers. The devotees (of-course) were charged up… everyone had this unexplainable energy in and around them.

The Kumbh setup – let’s get into my (our) experience at the Kumbh…

Firstly, the organisation of the Kumbh is absolutely brilliant. It is welcoming, clean, very well managed and the ultimate example of what humans can achieve if they intertwine aastha (faith), with their kaushal (skill) and their parishram (hard work). Major kudos to the Yogi government of UP for pulling this off!!!

Also, and I cannot stress this point enough, we are extremely lucky that we were hosted by one of my wife’s close friends from school and her husband, who being locals live in Prayagraj and are well connected/exceptionally resourceful as well. They were warmly generous to make sure that we had a great Kumbh experience. So thank you so much Nidhi and Sanskaar – your cup of punya runneth over! 

The Kumbh Mela setup…

Collage of 2025 Kumbh pics taken by Ramesh Venkat.

What you see as under is the Kumbh map. All the coloured areas you see is the specially created temporary city for the purposes of the Mela. It is also a specially notified district and has its own Police Commissioner, DM, SDM and the administration that goes with it. To see map Click

The full size of the Ganga during the monsoon is about 6-10 times the width that it is currently and approx 20 feet deeper than what it is during the mela. So the entire temporary city is actually created on an empty river bed.

Pontoon bridges. 

The bridges you see across the river are specially constructed pontoon bridges which can have cars (& trucks too) travel on them to get across the Ganga. Each alternate bridge is a 1-way bridge.

The Prayag city is on the lower side of the Ganga and while there are some of the mela activities on this side of the river, but the other side (towards the top of the image) has the much bigger area of the Kumbh.

Getting into the Kumbh Mela…

So, our hosts being locals and having done this many times in the earlier Kumbh knew what to do, so they took us on an extremely smart way to experience the Kumbh. We entered the mela area from one end (i.e. the extreme left-Sector 9), with the power of the special pass and some cajoling and back & forth with the police manning the entry.

There we visited a couple of the larger shivirs and then crossed pontoon No 22 to the other side.

For visuals of Sector 9 and a couple of the shivirs we visited. Click here

What took me aback at first glance was just the massive scale of the setup, the sea of people around, all of who seemed to know what they were doing there and where they wanted to go. Then I noticed that over half the people working / volunteering there are women. That was an eye-opener.

Juna Akhada. 

Anyway, after a couple of quick visits, we crossed Pontoon No 22 to get to the other side… The sight/experience of driving across the Ganga at night is so powerful…

Once over to the main Kumbh area, we then started visiting some of the Akhadas, starting off with the Kinnar Akhada – this one celebrates people of the third sex/transgenders and was inducted into the list of akhadas last time around (in 2019)…

Then we moved to the largest akhada in the Kumbh – the Juna Akhada, which was elected as the representative Akhada of the Mahakumbh 2025, making the head of the Juna Akhada, the head of the Kumbh Mela 2025 as well.

The Naga Sadhus beckon….

Then it was time to hang out with the Naga sadhus…

So we visited multiple akhadas and ‘hung out’ with some Naga sadhus. The deal with being a lot around the sadhus is that you end up inhaling a lot of what they smoke, so you can be extremely ‘happy’ in a few minutes.

After we had made out way across the Kumbh Mela, we reached all the way to the other end, to a point right across the Sangam… the extension which extends out into the river, referred to as the ‘Sangam nose’.

Dip in the Sangam!!!

So, from across the sangam point, we crossed over walking, back to the city-side on a pontoon bridge, which is reserved specially for the administration people… and hence, we were the only ones on it… Imagine walking across the Ganga, at the Kumbh, just by yourself… without any crowd…

The water was nice & cold, but not freezing… And we felt great!!!  The feeling of peaceful energy when we came out, was unique

This is how it was at most places for devotees wanting a dip. 

And we wrapped off the evening with a fabulous conversation with two members of the STRF team stationed at the ghat (STRF=Specially Trained Rescue Force), who were at hour 12 of their 12-hour shift.

Just 3 days ago, when the stampede happened in this area, they had ended up working a 24-hour shift. Kudos to them and to ALL of the security & administration people who make the Kumbh so safe, welcoming and clean!

We got back home at 1am – surprisingly not at all tired!

One of the reasons why 2025 Kumbh is attracting large number of devotees is because this time there is a “rare celestial configurations that occurs once every 144 years.” Source

Brunch at Netram – the morning after, we had some outstanding brunch at Netram Moolchand in the Prayagraj bazaar. Desi, authentic and so good!!! While the kachori-thaali was awesome, the piece-de-resiatance was the gaajar halwa made out of black carrot, which is very rare and available only during certain times during the winter. 

Har Har Mahadev

To read all articles by author

Also by author Experience of Pran Pratistha held in January 2024

Editor Notes – Food was served to all devotees irrespective of religion, caste or wealth. Devotees belonging to all sections of society had holy dip in the same place. Pray that the rest of the Kumbh goes off well. 

Also read

1. Science and History of Kumbh Mela

2. All you wanted to know from the Kumbh Mela

3. Album Kumbh Mela 2010

4. An Amazing Phenomena called the Kumbh Mela

5. Understanding Mysticism through Quantum Physics

6. Indian Foundation of Modern Science

7. Khalid Umar Barrister tells about Mahakumbh’s connection with the Universe