The most recent Maha Kumbh Mela in India drew 70 million pilgrims, the largest human gathering in history. For the award-winning photographer Karoki Lewis, this extraordinary spiritual event was also a turning point

THE long-term project I am working on - documenting religious pilgrimages around the world - was inspired by a visit to one phenomenal event.

In January 2001 more than 70 million people headed for the Sangam (the confluence of the three sacred rivers - the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati) in the northern Indian city of Allahabad for a 44-day festival of faith that takes place every 12 years.

Dubbed the "greatest show on earth", the Maha Kumbh Mela is a spectacular gathering of sadhus and saints, tourists and travellers, politicians and pilgrims.

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• In pictures: Kumbh Mela by Karoki Lewis

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Background

• Kumbh Mela: the largest pilgrimage

• DJ Nihal's pilgrimage to India

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Probably thousands of years old, Kumbh Mela's origins are rooted in Hindu mythology. The first recorded reference comes in AD634 from the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang, who described an "ageless" bathing tradition.

For the first Kumbh Mela of the new millennium, people arrived from all over India and the world: simple village folk with only the bare necessities loaded on their heads walked for miles to camp out in the freezing cold; well-heeled Western tourists lived it up at the Cox & Kings' camp, paying £100 a night for a luxurious tent.

Sadhus in their thousands descended from Himalayan isolation to strut their stuff in front of the world's media, which arrived en masse to devour the breathtaking profusion of photo-ops and soundbites.

My most abiding memory of the Mela will be of the multitudes of ordinary pilgrims, quietly and gracefully expressing their extraordinary faith, cleansing their souls in the shallow waters of the Sangam.

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